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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


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Class 


The  Relation  of  the  College 
to  the  Professional  School 


NORTHWESTERN    UNIVERSITY 


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STENOGRAPHIC  REPORT 


OF   THE 


Conference  on  the  Relation 

of  the  College  to  the 

Professional  School 


CALLED   BY   NORTHWESTERN   UNIVERSITY 

TO   MEET   FRIDAY   AND   SATURDAY 

MAY   EIGHTH   AND    NINTH 


J903 


PUBLISHED    BY    NORTHWESTERN    UNIVERSITY,    SOUTH- 
EAST CORNER  LAKE  AND  DEARBORN  STREETS,  CHICAGO 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Introductory  Note   4 

Program    8 

List  of  Delegates  10 

Report  of  Proceedings. 

Introductory  Paper 

The  Present  Situation,  Professor  Young,  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity         15 

I.  Has  the  college  a  field  peculiar  to  itself,  not  covered  by  the  tech- 

nical school  or  by  the  demands  of  preparation  for  the  pro- 
fessional school? 

Papers : 

President  Edward  D.  Eaton,  Beloit  College 22 

President  M.  P.  Dowling,  Creighton  University 27 

President  George  C.  Chase,  Bates  College 33 

Rev.  J.  H.  Thomas,  late  President  of  Oxford  College 44 

President  Charles  J.  Little,  Garrett  Biblical  Institute 89 

Discussion : 

President     William  F.  King,  Cornell  College 38 

President  Thomas  McClelland,  Knox  College 40 

Professor  R.  G.  Kimble,  Lombard  College 48 

Hon.  Arthur  L.  Bates,  Allegheny  College 51 

President  D.  W.  Fisher,  Hanover  College 54 

Professor  Fletcher  B.  Dresslar,  University  of  California 56 

II.  Is  it  desirable  that  the  college  course  should  be  reduced  in  time 

from  four  to  three  or  even  two  years  and  correspond- 
ingly in  amount  of  work? 

Paper : 

President  George  E.  Merrill,  Colgate  University 58 

Discussion : 

President  Webster  Merrifield,  University  of  North  Dakota. .  63 

President  Charles  W.  Needham,  Columbian  University 71 

Vice-President  Francis  Cassilly,  St.  Ignatius  College 77 

Director  George  N.  Carman,  Lewis  Institute 78 

Professor  J.  H.  T.  Main,  Iowa  College 79 

President  J.  W.  Bashford,  Ohio  Wesleyan  University 80 

President  Charles  A.  Blanchard,  Wheaton  College 81 

III.  What  subjects  in  the  typical  college  course  can  be  accepted  by 

the  professional  school  as  qualifying  in  part  for  the  pro- 
fessional degree  so  as  to  shorten  the  time  required  for  gradu- 
ation in  the  professional  school? 

Papers : 

President   Franklin    C.    Southworth,    Meadville   Theological 

School    84 

Dr.  R.  McE.  Schauffler,  Kansas  City  Medical  School 96 


Discussion : 

Dean    John    H.    Wigmore,    Northwestern    University    Law 

School    95 

Professor   A.    T.    Robertson,    Southern    Baptist    Theological 

Seminary     92 

Dr.  Arthur  R.   Edwards,   Northwestern  University  Medical 

School   98 

Professor  John  H.  Gray,  Northwestern  University 100 

President  Charles  A.  Blanchard,  Wheaton   College 102 

Professor  William  A.  Locy,  Northwestern  University 103 

IV.  If  reduction  is  allowed  should  it  be  (a)  by  acceptance  of  credits 
in  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  for  work  done  in  the  pro- 
fessional school,  or  (b)  by  acceptance  in  professional  school 
for  work  done  in  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  or  (c)  by 
combining  these  plans? 

Paper: 

Professor  Munroe  Smith,  Columbia  University 105 

Discussion : 

Dean  J.  L.  Goodknight,  Lincoln  College 114 

Professor  Ernest  J.  Wilczynski,  University  of  California 118 

Dr.  Frances  Dickinson,  Harvey  Medical  College 119 

Dean    John    H.    Wigmore,    Northwestern    University    Law 

School   121 

Professor  C.  H.  Eigenmann,  University  of  Indiana 125 

Dr.  Charles  E.  St.  John,  Oberlin  College 126 

V.    The  Relation  of  the  Technical  School  to  the  College. 

Paper : 

Dr.  Harry  W.  Tyler,  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. .  130 

Discussion : 

Director  George  N.   Carman,  Lewis  Institute 140 

President  Frank  W.  Gunsaulus,  Armour   Institute 141 

Index 145 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 


The  following  letters  explain  sufficiently  the  origin  of  the  conference 
held  at  the  Northwestern  University  Professional  School  Building  at  the 
corner  of  Lake  and  Dearborn  Streets,  Chicago,  on  May  8th  and  9th,  1903. 

The  program  which  follows  these  two  letters  was  based  upon  replies 
and  suggestions  received  to  the  two  communications.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  the  program  was  carried  through  exactly  as  it  was  prepared,  no 
speaker  who  had  promised  to  be  present  failing  to  appear.  The  list  of  dele- 
gates shows  the  participation  in  the  conference. 

It  may  be  said  further  that  the  social  features  of  the  conference,  espe- 
cially the  informal  meeting  of  delegates  Thursday  evening,  the  luncheon 
to  the  delegates  on  Friday  at  noon,  and  the  reception  to  the  delegates  in 
the  evening,  offered  opportunities  for  interesting  and  fruitful  intercourse 
and  for  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  topics  of  the  conference  than  would  have 
otherwise  been  possible. 

The  widespread  attention  which  the  conference  received  from  the  press 
of  the  country  indicates  how  important  has  become  this  whole  topic  of 
the  relation  of  the  college  to  the  professional  school. 

The  deep  felt  interest  in  the  proceedings  of  the  conference  on  the  part 
of  those  who  were  present  is  indicated  by  the  almost  unanimous  desire  to  pro- 
vide for  similar  meetings  in  subsequent  years,  a  reference  to  which  will  be 
found  on  page  124  of,  these  proceedings. 


Northwestern  University. 
Evanston  —  Chicago. 

President's  Office, 

Lake  and    Dearborn   Streets, 

Chicago. 

March  12,  1903. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

The  relation  of  the  college  to  the  professional  school,  and  of  col- 
lege training  to  professional  school  work,  is  receiving  today  more 
attention,  perhaps,  than  any  other  question  under  discussion  by  college 
and  university  faculties.  How  to  preserve  the  benefits  of  the  college 
training  while  economizing  the  student's  time  for  both  the  college  and 
the  professional  degree  is  the  problem  to  be  solved.  The  complexity 
of  the  questions  involved  makes  it  difficult  for  any  single  institution 
to  make  out  and  adopt  a  plan  for  itself,  and  the  important  bearing  of 
any  general  plan  upon  our  whole  American  system  of  education 
seems  to  make  it  desirable  that  there  should  be  an  interchange  of 
views  upon  this  subject  by  those  who  are  most  concerned  and  who  have 
given  it  most  thought. 

The  question  must  be  considered  from  the  standpoint : 

First.  Of  the  independent  college,  that  is,  one  having  no  organic 
connection  with  professional  schools. 

Second.     Of  the  independent  professional  school. 

Third.  Of  the  university  which  embraces  both  college  and  pro- 
fessional schools. 

As  factors  in  our  educational  system  all  three  classes  of  institu- 
tions are  interested  in  this  subject  and  ought  to  be  consulted  and  to 
take  part  in  any  general  discussion  of  the  matter. 

With  a  view  to  facilitating  an  interchange  of  opinions  and  to 
securing  the  best  judgment  upon  this  matter,  a  conference  has  been 
called  for  Friday  and  Saturday,  May  8  and  9,  1903,  at  North- 
western University  Professional  School  Building,  Lake  and  Dearborn 
streets,  Chicago. 

You  are  cordially  invited  to  participate  in  this  conference.  Will 
you  kindly  indicate  whether  or  not  it  is  probable  that  you  can  be 
present  yourself,  and  if  not,  whether  your  institution  may  be  repre- 
sented by  some  other  delegate? 

Faithfully  yours,  EDMUND  J.  JAMES. 

N.  B. — Please  address  your  reply  to  this  communication  in  care 
of  the  President's  Secretary,  Northwestern  University  Building,  cor- 
ner of  Lake  and  Dearborn  streets,  Chicago. 


Northwestern  University. 
Cvanston  —  Chicago. 

President's  Office, 

Lake  and    Dearborn   Streets, 

Chicago. 

April  13th,  1903. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

The  definite  acceptances  thus  far  received  to  the  invitation  which 
was  sent  to  you  to  take  part  in  the  conference  to  be  held  in  the  North- 
western University  Building,  Chicago,  May  8th  and  9th,  upon  "The 
Relation  of  the  College  to  the  Professional  School,"  would  indicate 
that  at  least  one  hundred  different  institutions  will  be  represented. 
Two  or  three  institutions  have  indicated  their  desire  to  send  repre- 
sentatives from  each  of  their  professional  schools,  and  we  should,  of 
course,  be  glad  to  have  the  different  departments  of  the  various  insti- 
tutions represented  as  well  as  the  institutions  as  a  whole.  If  there 
are  any  other  members  of  your  faculty  who  would  like  to  be  present 
and  to  take  part  in  this  conference,  we  should  be  glad  if  you  would 
appoint  them,  also,  as  delegates. 

The  interest  in  the  conference  has  proved  to  be  unexpectedly 
widespread  and  intense,  and  the  prospect  is  that  the  discussion  will 
throw  much  light  upon  present  conditions.  The  following  prelimi- 
nary list  of  questions  for  discussion  has  been  made  up  from  sugges- 
tions made  by  different  institutions  which  are  to  be  represented.  We 
should  be  glad  to  receive  other  suggestions : 

I.  Has  the  college  a  field  peculiar  to  itself,  not  covered  by  the 
technical  school  and  not  serving  solely  as  preparatory  to  the  profes- 
sional school? 

II.  Is  it  desirable  that  the  college  course  be  reduced  in  time 
from  four  to  three  years,  or  even  two,  and  correspondingly  in  amount 
of  work? 

III.  Is  it  desirable  that  the  bachelor's  degree,  based  on  the  course 
of  four  years,  be  required  for  admission  to  the  professional  school  ? 

IV.  If  the  bachelor's  degree  is  not  required  for  admission,  is  it 
desirable  that  there  should  be  reduction  of  time,  i.  e.,  so-called  com- 
bined courses  for  the  two  degrees  ?     What  should  be  the  maximum  re- 
duction?    Should  time  in  the  professional  school  be  counted  in  meet- 
ing the  minimum  requirement  of  residence  in  the  college  ? 

V.  If  reduction  is  allowed  should  it  be  (a)  by  acceptance  of 
credit  in  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  for  work  done  in  the  professional 
school,  or  (b)  by  acceptance  in  professional  school  for  work  done  in 
the  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  or  (c)  by  combining  these  plans? 


VI.  Is  the  fact  that  the  shorter  combined  courses  are  offered 
with  the  usual  degrees  likely  to  have  the  effect  of  discrediting  the 
longer  courses  and  of  discouraging  the  non-professional  as  well  as  the 
professional  undergraduate  from  following  them? 

Is  its  effect  likely  to  be  disadvantageous  to  the  independent  col- 


VII.  What  is  likely  to  be  the  effect  of  the  combined  courses  upon 
professional  education  in  general,  and  especially  upon  the  independ- 
ent professional  schools  ? 

VIII.  If  the  bachelor's  degree  is  not  a  reasonable  requirement 
as  a  preliminary  to  professional  study,  what  should  be  required  in  the 
way  of  preparation  ? 

IX.  What  method  of  co-operation  is  feasible  between  the  inde- 
pendent college  and  the  university  professional  schools  or  independent 
professional  schools  by  which  mutual  recognition  of  work  done  in  the 
respective  institutions  may  be  secured,  thus  insuring  to  the  inde- 
pendent college  equal  privileges  in  this  regard  with  the  university 
college  ? 

The  plan  is  to  have  the  consideration  of  each  of  these  questions, 
and  such  others  as  may  be  submitted  and  accepted,  opened  by  two 
brief  papers  and  followed  by  a  general  discussion  by  the  delegates 
present. 

Delegates  are  requested  to  register  in  the  rotunda  of  the  North- 
western University  Building,  Lake  and  Dearborn  streets,  immediately 
on  their  arrival  in  the  city.  Arrangements  will  be  made  for  a  social 
gathering  on  Thursday  evening  for  those  who  may  be  able  to  arrive 
Thursday  afternoon.  The  first  formal  session  will  be  held  Friday 
morning,  May  8th,  at  nine  o'clock,  in  Booth  hall,  on  the  Law  School 
floor  of  the  building. 

The  university  will  tender  a  reception  to  the  delegates  present, 
Friday  evening,  from  8  to  11  o'clock,  in  the  rooms  of  the  Law  School. 

The  Sherman  house,  which  is  located  opposite  the  city  hall,  only 
two  blocks  from  the  Northwestern  University  Building,  will  offer  a 
limited  number  of  rooms  for  one  dollar  a  day,  European  plan.  The 
Great  Northern,  five  blocks  distant  on  Dearborn  street,  offers  a  similar 
rate.  The  Auditorium  offers  rooms  from  $1.50  up;  and  the  Audi- 
torium Annex,  from  $2  up.  The  Northwestern  University  Building 
can  be  reached  conveniently  from  the  Auditorium  by  elevated  road. 

An  early  reply,  if  you  have  not  already  answered  the  communi- 
cation of  March  12th,  will  be  greatly  appreciated. 

Faithfully  yours, 


PROGRAM. 


THURSDAY,  MAY  7TH,  1903 

Informal  Meeting  of  Delegates  in  the  Parlors  on  the  second  floor  of  the 
Building,  8  to  11  p.  m. 

FRIDAY,  MAY  8TH,  1903 

9:00  A.  M. 

BOOTH  HALL,  LAW  SCHOOL  FLOOR 
GREETING  TO  THE  DELEGATES 

BY  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

INTRODUCTORY  PAPER — "THE   PRESENT   SITUATION" 
Abram  Van  Eps  Young 
Professor  of  Chemistry  in  Northwestern  University 

I 

Has  the  college  a  field  peculiar  to  itself,  not  covered  by  the  technical  school 
or  by  the  demands  of  preparation  for  the  professional  school? 

PAPERS  : 

President  Edward  D.   Eaton,  Beloit  College 
President  M.  P.  Dowling,  Creighton  University 
•  President  George  C.  Chase,  Bates  College 

DISCUSSION  : 

President  William  F.  King,  Cornell  College 
President  Thomas  McClelland,  Knox  College 
Rev.  J.  H.  Thomas,  late  President  Oxford  College 

GENERAL  DISCUSSION 

12  :30  P.  M. 

Luncheon  to  the  Delegates  in  Assembly  Hall  on  the  second  floor 

2:00  P.  M. 
II 

Is  it  desirable  that  the  college  course  should  be  reduced  in  time  from  four 
to  three  or  even  two  years  and  correspondingly  in  amount  of  work? 

PAPER  : 

President  George  E.  Merrill,  Colgate  University 

DISCUSSION  : 

President  Webster  Merrifield,  University  of  North  Dakota 
President  Charles  W.  Needham,  Columbian  University 

GENERAL  DISCUSSION 

III 

What  subjects  in  the  typical  college  course  can  be  accepted  by  the  profes- 
sional school  as  qualifying  in  part  for  the  professional  degree  so  as  to 
shorten  the  time  required  for  graduation  in  the  professional  school? 
(a)  Theological  School 

PAPER : 

President  Franklin  C.  Southworth,  Meadville  Theological  School 


DISCUSSION  : 

President  Charles  J.  Little,  Garrett  Biblical  Institute 

Professor  A.  T.  Robertson,  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary 

(b)  Law  School 

PAPER  : 

Dean  John  H.  Wigmore,  Northwestern  University  Law  School 

(c)  Medical  School 

PAPER  : 

Dr.  R.  McE.  Schauffler,  Kansas  City  Medical  College. 

DISCUSSION  : 

Dr.  Arthur  R.  Edwards,  Northwestern  University  Medical  School 

8:00  to  11:00  P.   M. 
Faculty  Reception  to  the  Delegates — Law  School  Floor 

SATURDAY,  MAY  9TH,  1903. 
9:00  A.  M. 

BOOTH    HALL,   LAW    SCHOOL   FLOOR 
IV 

If  reduction  is  allowed  should  it  be  (a)  by  acceptance  of  credits  in  the 
College  of  Liberal  Arts  for  work  done  in  the  professional  school,  or  (b) 
by  acceptance  in  professional  school  for  work  done  in  the  College  of 
Liberal  Arts,  or  (c)  by  combining  these  plans? 

PAPER  : 

Professor  Munroe  Smith,  Columbia  University 

DISCUSSION  : 

Dean  J.  L.  Goodknight,  Lincoln  College 

GENERAL  DISCUSSION. 

11 :00  A.  M. 

V 
The  relation  of  the  Technical  School  to  the  College 

PAPER  : 

Dr.  Harry  W.  Tyler,  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 

DISCUSSION  : 

Director  George  N.  Carman,  Lewis  Institute 
President  Frank  W.  Gunsaulus,  Armour  Institute 

2:00  P.  M. 
CLINICAL  LECTURE  IN  WESLEY  HOSPITAL: 

Dr.  Weller  Van  Hook,  Northwestern  University  Medical  School 


10 


LIST  OF  DELEGATES. 


Albright  College,  Myerstown,  Pa.,  President  James  D.  Woodring. 

Allegheny  College,  Meadville,  Pa.,  Hon.  Arthur  L.  Bates. 

Alma  College,  Alma,  Mich.,  President  August  F.  Bruske. 

Armour  Institute  of  Technology,  Chicago,  President  Frank  W.  Gunsaulus. 

Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary,  Rock  Island,  111.,  Dr.  C.  W. 

Foss. 

Baker  University,  Baldwin,  Kan.,  President  L.  H.  Murlin. 
Barnard   College,  New  York  City,  Columbia  University  delegate,  Professor 

Munroe  Smith. 

Bates  College,  Lewiston,  Me.,  President  George  C.  Chase. 
Bellevue  College,  Omaha,  Neb.,  President  R.  Kerr. 
Beloit  College,  Beloit,  Wis.,  President    Edward   D.    Eaton. 
Beloit  College,  Beloit,  Wis.,  Professor  E.  G.  Smith. 
Beloit  College,  Beloit,  Wis.,..  Professor  R.  C.  Chapin. 
Buchtel  College,  Akron,  Ohio,  President  A.  B.  Church. 
Carleton  College,  Northfield,  Minn.,  Professor  W.  W.  Payne. 
Carthage   College,   Carthage,   111.,   President  Sigmund. 
Central   Female  College,  Lexington,   Mo.,   President  Z.   M.   Williams. 
Central  University,  Danville,  Ky.,  President  W.  C.  Roberts. 
Chicago  Theological  Seminary,  Chicago,  111.,  Prof.  Samuel  I.  Curtiss. 
Coe  College,  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa,  President  S.  B.  McCormick. 
Colgate  University,  Hamilton,  N.  Y.,  President  George    E.    Merrill. 
Colgate  University,  Hamilton,  N.  Y.,  Professor    M,    S.    Read. 
Columbia  University,  New  York  City,  Professor  Munroe  Smith. 
Columbian  University,  Washington,  D.  C.,  President  Chas.  W.  Needham. 
Cornell  College,  Mt.  Vernon,  Iowa,  President  William  F.  King. 
Creighton  University,  Omaha,  Neb.,   President  M.   P.  Dowling. 
Denison  University,  Granville,  Ohio,  President  Emory  W.  Hunt. 
DePauw  University,  Greencastle,  Ind.,  Professor  J.  P.  Naylor. 
Detroit  College,  Detroit  Mich.,  St.   Ignatius  College  delegate,  Francis   Cas- 

silly,    S.   J. 

Eureka  College,  Eureka,  111.,  President  A.  E.  Hieronymus. 
Ewing  College,  Ewing,  111.,  President  J.  A.  Leavitt. 
Fort  Worth  University,  Fort  Worth,  Tex.,  President  Mac  Adam. 
Georgetown  College,  Georgetown,  Ky.,  President  B.  D.  Gray. 
Glendale  College,  Glendale,  Ohio,  President  Miss  R.  J.  Devore. 
Hamline  University,  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  President  G.  H.  Bridgman. 
Hanover  College,  Hanover,  Ind.,  President  D.  W.  Fisher. 
Harvey  Medical  College,  Chicago,  Dr.  Frances  Dickinson. 
Hillsdale  College,  Hillsdale,  Mich.,  President  J.  W.  Mauck. 
Hope  College,  Holland,  Mich.,  President  G.  J.  Kollen. 
Illinois  College,  Jacksonville,  111.,  President  C.  W.  Barnes. 
Illinois  Wesleyan  University,  Bloomington,  111.,  President  E.   M.   Smith. 
Indiana  University,  Bloomington,  Ind.,  Professor  C.  H.  Eigenmann. 
Iowa  College,  Grinnell,  Iowa,   Professor  J.  H.  T.  Main. 
Iowa  Wesleyan  University,  Mt.  Pleasant,  Iowa,  President  John  W.  Handier. 
Kansas  City  Medical  School,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  Dr.  Robert  Schauffler. 
Kenyon  College,  Gambier,  Ohio,  President  William  F.  Pierce. 
Knox  College,  Galesburg,  111.,  President  Thomas  McClelland. 
Lake  Forest  College,  Lake  Forest,  111.,  President  Richard  D.  Harlan. 
Lawrence  University,  Appleton,  Wis.,  President  Samuel  Plantz. 
Lenox  College,  Hopkinton,  Iowa,  President  F.  W.  Grossman. 

11 


Lewis  Institute,  Chicago,  111.,  Director  George  N.  Carman. 
Lincoln  College,  Lincoln,  111.,  Dean  J.  L.  Goodknight 
Lombard  College,  Galesburg,  111.,  Professor  R.  G.  Kimble. 
McCormick  Theological  Seminary,  Chicago,  Professor  Andrew  C.  Zenos. 
Marquette  College,  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  President  A.  J.  Burrowes. 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  Boston,  Dr.  Harry  W.  Tyler. 
Meadville  Theological  School,  Meadville,   Pa.,   President  F.  C.   Southworth. 
Michigan  State  Agricultural  College,  Agricultural  College,  Mich.,  President 

J.  L.  Snyder. 

Mills  College,  Mills  College,  Cal.,  Miss  Jane  Seymour  Klink. 
Missouri  Wesleyan  College,  Cameron,  Mo.,  Professor  Agnew. 
Monmouth  College,  Monmouth,  111.,  Acting  President  Russell  Graham. 
Morningside  College,  Sioux  City,  Iowa,   Professor  R.  B.  Wylie. 
Mount  Holyoke  College,  South  Hadley,  Mass.,  Miss  Nellie  E.  Goldthwaite. 
Mt.  Union  College,  Alliance,  Ohio,   President  A.   B.   Riker. 
Northwestern   College,  Naperville,  111.,  President  H.  J.  Kiekhoefer. 
Oberlin  College,  Oberlin,  Ohio,  Dr.  Charles  E.  St.  John. 
Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  Delaware,  Ohio,   President  J.  W.   Bashford. 
Oxford  College,  Oxford,  Ohio,  Rev.  J.  H.  Thomas,  late  President. 
Palmer  University,   Muncie,  Ind.,   President  John   H.   H.   Latchaw. 
Park  College,  Parkville,  Mo.,  President  Lowell  M.  McAfee. 
Parsons  College,  Fairfield,  Iowa,  President  F.  W.  Hinitt. 
Penn  College,  Oskaloosa,  Iowa,  President  A.  Rosenberger. 
Penn  College,  Oskaloosa,  Iowa,  Professor   Robert    Meredith. 
Ripon  College,  Ripon,  Wis.,  President  Richard  C.  Hughes. 
Rockford  College,  Rockford,  111.,  Miss  Julia  H.  Gulliver. 
Rose  Polytechnic  Institute,  Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  President  C.  Mees. 
Ruskin  University,  Glen  Ellyn,  111.,  Dean  George  Miller. 
St.  Ignatius  College,  Chicago,  Francis  Cassilly,   S.  J. 
St.  Louis  University,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  President  W.  B.  Rogers. 
Simpson  College,  Indianola,  Iowa,  Professor  John  L.  Tilton. 
Southern    Baptist    Theological    Seminary,    Louisville,    Ky.,    Professor   A.    T. 

Robertson. 

Tarkio  College,  Tarkio,  Mo.,  President  J.  A.  Thompson. 
University  of  California,  Berkeley,  Cal.,  Professor  Fletcher  B.  Dresslar. 
University  of  California,  Berkeley,  Cal.,  Professor  Ernest  J.  Wilczynski. 
University  of  California,  Berkeley,  Cal.,  Professor  G.  T.  Lapsley. 
University  of  Chicago,  Chicago,  111.,  Professor  Albion  W.  Small. 
University  of  Colorado,  Boulder,  Colo.,  President  James  H.  Baker. 
University  of  Maine,  Oronp,  Me.,  Mr.  Leroy  H.  Harvey. 
University  of  Nebraska,  Lincoln,  Neb.,  President  E.  Benj.  Andrews. 
University  of  North  Dakota,  University,  N.  D.,  President  Webster  Merrifield. 
University  of  the  Pacific,  San  Jose,  Cal.,  President  E.  McClish. 
University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  Wis.,  Acting  President  Birge. 
Upper  Iowa  University,  Fayette,  Iowa,  President  T.  J.  Bassett. 
Wabash  College,  Crawfordsville,  Ind.,  President  W.  P.  Kane. 
Waynesburg  College,  Waynesburg,  Pa.,  President  A.  E.  Turner. 
Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Conn.,  President  B.  P.   Raymond. 
Western  Theological  Seminary,  Holland,  Mich.,  President  John  W.  Beardslee. 
Westminster  College,  Fulton,  Mo.,  President  John  H.  MacCracken. 
Wheaton  College,  Wheatpn,  111.,  President  Blanchard. 
Woman's  College  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  President  John  F.  Goucher. 


12 


PROCEEDINGS. 

OPENING  SESSION. 
FRIDAY,  MAY  8,  1903,  9  :00  A.  M. 

PRESIDENT  JAMES: 

Will  Dr.  King  of  Cornell  College  lead  us  in  prayer  ? 
PRESIDENT  KING  : 

Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  thank  Thee  for  the  cir- 
cumstances of  favor  under  which  we  are  permitted  to  assemble  this 
morning.  We  pray  Thee  that  Thou  mayest  give  us  the  guidance  of 
Thy  Spirit  in  the  important  deliberations  in  which  we  are  to  engage. 
Prepare  us  for  the  best  results  in  reference  to  the  causes  which  are 
entrusted  to  our  keeping.  Let  Thy  blessing  rest  upon  every  member 
of  this  convocation  of  Thy  servants,  and  we  pray  Thee  that  we  may 
have  such  spirit  of  deliberation,  of  cooperation  and  brotherly  feeling 
as  shall  lead  us  to  the  right  conclusions,  resulting  in  the  good  of  Thy 
cause  and  the  upbuilding  of  the  common  cause  of  education.  Be 
pleased  to  give  us  light  where  we  need  light  and  to  help  us  in  the  great 
problems  which  are  to  be  considered,  and  grant  that  we  may  have  such 
light  and  strength  as  shall  lead  us  to  the  proper  conclusion.  Let  Thy 
blessing  rest  upon  all  institutions  with  which  we  are  connected.  May 
they  be  fountains  of  good  living  as  well  as  fountains  of  learning,  and 
may  the  results  coming  from  each  of  these  institutions  be  such  as  to 
glorify  God  and  bless  mankind.  Let  Thy  blessing  rest  upon  all 
interests  near  and  dear  to  our  hearts.  Prepare  us  for  the  duties  and 
privilege,  and  when  we  have  finished  our  work  here  on  earth  bring  us 
home  to  Thy  kingdom  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 
PRESIDENT  JAMES  : 

I  wish  first  to  extend  a  word  of  cordial  greeting  on  behalf  of 
Northwestern  University  to  the  delegates  and  the  institutions  which 
they  represent.  We  thank  you  most  heartily  for  your  willingness  to 
participate  in  a  conference  upon  this  subject  which  we  regard  as  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  most  important,  if  not  the  most  important  educational 
question  in  the  field  of  higher  education  before  the  people  of  the 
United  States  today.  In  the  educational  development  of  any  country 
we  find  various  kinds  of  forces  at  work  making  for  progress.  In  many 
cases  nearly  the  entire  reliance  is  upon  the  public  authorities,  upc 

13 


state  governments,  upon  state  departments  of  education,  upon  state 
universities.  In  this  country  we  have  been  to  a  very  large  extent,  up 
to  within  a  comparatively  recent  time,  dependent  upon  private  enter- 
prise. It  is  only  within  the  lifetime  and  memory  of  most  of  those 
present  that  the  state  university,  the  state  department  of  education, 
has  become  an  important  element  in  the  educational  life  of  the  country 
— an  element  destined  to  become  ever  more  important. 

It  is  quite  possible  in  a  country  where  everything  has  depended  so 
wholly  upon  private  initiative  and  energy  that  the  strong  and  vigorous 
institutions — those  which  from  any  reason  may  have  been  strategically, 
located  and  strategically  equipped — should  imagine  that  to  them 
belongs  the  leadership  in  determining  the  educational  policy  of  the 
community.  We  have  seen  some  signs  of  that  in  this  country.  In  spite 
of  the  fact  that  we  are  growing  to  be  a  nation  and  our  national  sense 
is  increasing  and  the  sense  of  unity  is  growing,  and  we  are  gradually 
with  every  passing  year  becoming  more  and  more  conscious  of  that 
feeling  of  solidarity,  I  am  convinced  that  this  country  is  so  large,  the 
different  sections  of  the  country  are  so  different,  that  no  one  institu- 
tion or  group  of  institutions  or  section,  or  group  of  sections  can  under- 
take to  determine  what  shall  be  the  educational  policy  of  the  United 
States.  We  are  today  in  the  field  of  higher  education  face  to  face 
with  an  important  change,  a  change  which  is  little  short  of  revolution. 
The  external  form  of  that  development  is  the  relation  of  the  college 
to  the  university,  or,  as  we  sometimes  express  it,  toward  the  profes- 
sional school — which,  it  seems  to  me  is  the  better  formulation,  for 
ordinary  purposes,  at  least — and  the  relation  of  these  two  to  the  larger 
organization  that  we  call  the  university. 

For  my  part,  I  think  that  no  one  institution  and  no  one  section  of 
the  country  can  undertake  to  outline  any  policy  in  this  matter  which 
is  wise  for  the  rest  of  the  country  to  follow.  It  is  only  when  we  get 
together  and  discuss  the  question  from  every  possible  point  of  view, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  every  possible  kind  of  institution,  that  we 
are  really  going  to  have  light  thrown  upon  the  problem. 

We  hope  here  to  initiate  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  conferences 
in  which  finally  every  kind  of  institution  which  may  fairly  lay  claim 
to  be  called  an  institution  of  higher  learning  may  have  its  legitimate 
expression  and  representation.  We  thank  you  most  heartily  for  your 
presence  here.  We  shall  be  glad  to  do  whatever  we  can  to  make  your 
stay  pleasant.  Owing  to  the  numerous  strikes  in  the  city  we  have 
been  unable  to  get  our  program  printed.  We  have  definite  information 
from  the  printer,  however,  that  in  a  few  moments  we  shall  have  the 

14 


printed  program  and  list  of  delegates  from  the  different  institutions. 
Take  pains  to  get  acquainted  with  the  delegates.  We  desire  especially 
that  you  shall  go  away  from  here  with  a  pleasant  recollection  of  the 
social  features  of  this  occasion.  I  feel  more  and  more  that  the  social 
element,  the  cultivation  of  personal  acquaintanceship  is,  among  the 
minor  forces,  one  of  the  most  efficient  means  to  promote  that  better 
understanding  which  will  contribute  to  the  solution  of  all  our  diffi- 
culties. 

The  program  this  morning  will  be  introduced  by  a  paper  on  "The 
Present  Situation,"  by  Professor  Young  of  Northwestern  University. 
I  may  say  that  Professor  Young  was  the  chairman  of  a  committee 
appointed  nearly  a  year  ago,  and  that  committee  was  the  continuation 
of  a  committee  appointed  some  time  before  that,  to  study  the  relation 
between  the  college  and  the  professional  schools  within  our  own  insti- 
tution. Certain  concessions  were  sought  by  the  professional  schools 
from  the  college,  and  the  college  asked  for  the  reasons.  This  led  to  a 
very  thorough  investigation.  We  have  asked  the  Professor  to  put  the 
results  before  us  this  morning.  That  will  be  followed  by  the  discussion 
of  the  first  topic,  "Has  the  college  a  field  peculiar  to  itself,  not  covered 
by  the  technical  school  or  by  the  demands  of  preparation  for  the  pro- 
fessional school?" 

I  have  invited  Professor  A.  T.  Robertson  of  the  Southern  Baptist 
Seminary,  Louisville,  Kentucky,  to  preside.  I  will  ask  him  to  take 
the  chair. 

PROFESSOR  EOBERTSON: 

I  appreciate  very  much  the  honor  President  James  has  conferred 
upon  me.  I  am  sure  that  my  task  will  be  very  easy  indeed,  as  the  work 
is  outlined  and  we  have  present  those  who  are  to  read  and  to  speak.  It 
will  simply  be  my  part  to  see  that  the  machine  goes.  I  am  sure  it 
will  go. 

The  question  which  we  have  before  us  is  certainly  on.e  of  the  very 
greatest  interest.  Although  we  do  not  have  all  the  educators  of  the 
United  States  here  we  have  some  of  all  the  kinds ;  we  have  some  doctors 
and  some  lawyers  and  some  university  men  and  some  college  men  and 
they  represent  all  the  different  kinds.  We  shall  now  go  ahead  and  have 
the  introductory  paper  on  "The  Present  Situation,"  by  Professor 
Young  of  Northwestern  University. 

PROFESSOR  YOUNG: 

The  importance  of  the  general  topic  which  this  Conference  has 
been  invited  to  consider,  viz. :  the  relation  between  the  college  and  the 

15 


professional  school,  especially  in  the  matter  of  curricula,  has  already 
received  wide  and  merited  recognition.  It  is  important  in  its  bearing 
upon  the  status  of  professional  education  in  general.  It  is  important 
because  it  involves  the  fundamental  principles  of  liberal  education. 
It  touches  the  mutual  interests  of  the  professional  school  and  the  col- 
lege when  they  are  departments  of  one  institution.  It  touches  vitally 
the  interests  of  the  colleges  in  their  relation  to  each  other. 

Two  features  of  the  existing  conditions  appear  conspicuous.  The 
first  of  these  is  the  tendency  to  urge  a  college  course,  attested  by  the 
bachelor's  degree,  as  preparation  for  professional  studies.  Of  the  value 
and  need  of  this  preparation  it  would  seem  that  the  professional 
faculties  and  the  professional  practitioners  should  be  the  best  judges. 

The  advocacy  of  this  preparation  has  been  frequently  and  emphat- 
ically expressed  in  public  print.  Its  most  effective  expression  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  some  professional  schools  require  the  bachelor's  degree, 
or  its  equivalent,  for  admission  and  thus  constitute  themselves  truly 
graduate  institutions.  This  has  been  the  requirement  in  the  Johns 
Hopkins  Medical  School  since  its  opening  and  is  now  the  requirement 
in  the  Medical  School  of  Harvard  and  that  of  Baltimore  University, 
and  in  the  law  school  of  Harvard,  of  Columbia  and  of  Leland  Stanford. 
The  Medical  School  of  Western  Reserve  requires  the  equivalent  of 
three  college  years;  that  of  Michigan  (1901-1902)  and  of  Chicago 
(1904-1905)  require  two  college  years,  and  that  of  Minnesota  one  col- 
lege year.  The  Law  School  of  Chicago  University  requires  three  and 
that  of  Ohio  two  college  years  for  admission.  These  are  actual  require- 
ments; but  in  addition  we  often  find  formally  expressed  in  the  cata- 
logues of  other  institutions  urgent  advice  to  similar  effect.  As  I  desire 
especially  to  emphasize  this  point,  I  offer  some  quotations :  Pennsyl- 
vania University  Medical  catalogue.  "It  is  earnestly  recommended 
that  young  men,  before  entering  upon  the  study  of  medicine  at  this 
University  should  have  previously  taken  the  degree  either  of  A.  B.  or 
B.  S.  at  some  college  or  university  where  the  standard  is  equivalent  to 
that  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania." 

Missouri  Medical  Catalogue.  "It  is  the  policy  of  the  Medical 
Department  to  encourage  in  every  way  possible  the  gaining  of  a  liberal 
education  as  a  sound  preparation  for  the  professional  study  of  medi- 
cine. Students  are  strongly  urged  to  take  first  a  scientific  course  in 
the  Academic  Department." 

Nebraska  University  Medical  Catalogue.  "Whenever  it  is  possi- 
ble the  student  is  advised  to  take  this  work,  viz.:  two  years  medical 
preparatory.  It  lays  a  broad  foundation  for  the  technical  work  of  the 

16 


last  two  years  and  gives  the  student  not  only  the  best  possible  training 
but  also  the  advantages  which  accrue  from  the  possession  of  the  bach- 
elor's degree." 

Iowa  State  University  Medical  Catalogue.  "These  combined 
courses  are  especially  recommended  to  all  students  who  intend  to  enter 
the  profession  of  medicine." 

Eush  Medical  College  (Chicago)  Catalogue.  "The  necessity,  how- 
ever, for  a  broader  and  more  thorough  preparation  than  one  college 
year  for  the  study  of  medicine  is  strongly  emphasized,  and  every  stu- 
dent is  advised  before  taking  up  the  study  of  medicine  to  procure  a  lib- 
eral education  such  as  can  be  obtained  only  in  a  well-equipped  college 
or  university." 

University  of  California  Medical  Catalogue,  1902.  "The  need 
of  a  broad  foundation  in  general  culture  can  not  be  overestimated  and 
students  should  extend  their  studies  in  the  culture  courses  as  much  as 
possible  beyond  the  prescriptions  of  two  college  years  here  laid  down." 

American  Academy  of  Medicine.  From  data  collected  for  the 
Academy  of  Medicine  and  presented  June,  1902,  it  appears  that  fifty- 
two  medical  schools  replied  out  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty*-three  to 
which  was  sent  the  question,  "Do  you  believe  that  a  general  insistence 
on  a  college  education  for  physicians  is  desirable  ?"  Twenty-four  of  the 
fifty-two  answered  "Yes"  and  nineteen,  "No"  without  qualification. 

University  Presidents :  The  presidents  of  Harvard,  Yale,  Colum- 
bia, and  Cornell  have  given  lengthy  consideration  to  this  matter  in 
their  last  reports.  President  Eliot  earnestly  advocates  requiring  the 
bachelors  degree  for  admission. 

President  Butler.  "It  is  held  to  be  the  settled  policy  at  Columbia 
University  that  the  several  technical  and  professional  schools  shall  rest 
upon  a  college  course  of  liberal  study  as  a  foundation  (although  not 
necessarily  upon  a  course  four  years  in  length)  either  at  once  or  as 
soon  as  practicable.  The  School  of  Law  has  already  been  placed  upon 
the  basis  of  a  graduate  school  to  take  effect  July  1,  1903.  On  Decem- 
ber 20,  1898,  the  University  Council  recommended  that  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  be  made  a  graduate  school  as  soon  as  such  a 
step  is  financially  practicable." 

Presidents  Had  ley  and  Schurman,  however,  argue  strongly  against 
the  requirement. 

The  second  feature  to  which  I  refer  is  the  tendency  to  cut  down 
the  time  of  the  college  course  and  therefore  the  meaning  of  the  bache- 
lor's degree  in  order  to  reduce  the  time  necessary  for  both  degrees. 
President  Butler,  in  his  last  report,  earnestly  advocates  the  reduction 

17 


of  the  course  for  the  bachelor's  degree  to  two  years.  In  many  colleges 
the  fourth  year  is  allowed  to  go  to  professional  study  and  in  the  Uni- 
versities of  Michigan,  Chicago,  Nebraska,  Missouri  and  Colorado  the 
fourth  and  the  third  year  are  allowed  thus  to  go. 

Clearly  these  two  tendencies  are  glaringly  inconsistent.  For  let 
the  movement  for  time  economy  go  on  only  so  much  further  and  in 
the  same  direction  as  it  has  already  gone  in  comparatively  few  years 
and  logically  the  bachelor's  degree  should  be  given  along  with  the  pro- 
fessional degree  of  M.  D.  for  four  years  of  study  in  the  professional 
school.  This  would  oe  a  fine  reductio  ad  absurdum.  The  professional 
degree  would  maintain  its  full  and  unmodified  significance  but  the 
bachelor's  degree  would  mean  nothing.  It  would  be  an  empty  symbol, 
an  atrophied  appendage  to  the  professional  degree. 

Thus  between  the  tendency  of  the  high  schools  to  cover  the  fresh- 
man and  even  the  sophomore  work  and  the  desire  of  the  professional 
schools  to  have  their  alumni  labeled  with  two  degrees  instead  of  one, 
it  looks  to  some,  and  I  surmise  their  number  is  considerable,  as  if  the 
peculiar  usefulness  of  the  colleges,  so  far  as  the  professional  students 
are  concerned,  was  fast  approaching  zero. 

/  In  these  days  of  strenuous  competition  and  rapid  evolution  in 
matters  academic  as  well  as  matters  industrial,  it  behooves  one  to 
study  carefully  what  basal  facts  and  principles  he  should  take  for 
grounding.  There  are  those  who  find  little  comfort  or  encouragement 
save  in  keeping  close  to  the  proposition  that  the  professional  school  and 
the  college  have  each  its  peculiar,  legitimate  function  and  usefulness ; 
that  of  one  is  not  that  of  the  other.  That  of  the  professional  school  is 
very  distinctly  defined.  Indeed  its  status  in  law  and  medicine  is  more 
or  less  established  by  statute.  It  is  to  make  lawyers  and  physicians, 
good  at  least  up  to  a  standard  defined  by  law  and  better  according  to 
the  measure  of  opportunity.  The  function  of  the  college  is  less  sharply 
definable.  It  certainly  is  not  to  make  lawyers  and  physicians,  but  it  is 
to  make  men,  men  liberally  educated.  Now  liberal  education  has,  so 
far  as  I  am  aware,  no  definition  in  law  and  perhaps  it  would  be  difficult 
to  define  it  satisfactorily,  but  that  it  is  none  the  less  real  and  none  the 
less  valuable  is  believed  by  many.  Therefore  it  has  been  thought  that 
this  topic  might  suitably  be  made  the  starting  point  in  the  discussions 
of  this  conference. 

The  desire  that  the  academic  and  the  professional  degree  should 
be  obtainable  without  the  full  expenditure  of  time  required  for  both 
independently  has  led  to  the  institution  of  the  so-called  combined 
courses  providing  for  reduction  of  total  time.  The  economy  of  time 

18 


thus  made  possible  is  in  some  institutions  one  year,  in  others  two  years. 
Of  the  first  group,  allowing  one  year  of  economy  in  the  combined  Aca-- 
demic  and  Medical  courses,  may  be  mentioned  Yale,  Columbia,  Penn- 
sylvania, Cornell  and  Minnesota.  Reduction  of  two  years  is  allowed 
by  Michigan,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Nebraska,  California,  Chicago  and 
others.  In  the  combined  law  courses  the  reduction  is  generally  one 
year.  Examples:  Yale,  Columbia,  Cornell,  Michigan,  Indiana,  Wis- 
consin, Iowa,  Chicago,  California  and  Leland  Stanford. 

To  effect  the  economy  of  one  year  in  the  combined  Medical 
courses,  two  methods  are  found  in  use :  First :  Seniors  or  Juniors  in 
the  college  take  work  to  the  extent  of  one  year  in  the  professional 
school  and  credit  for  this  is  transferred  to  the  college.  Examples: 
Columbia,  Pennsylvania,  Cornell,  Minnesota.  Second:  Professional 
students  are  released  from  items  in  the  Medical  school  by  credits  in 
the  college  for  corresponding  items.  Example :  Yale. 

For  the  economy  of  two  years  in  the  combined  medical  courses, 
three  methods  are  found: 

First:  Most  of  the  work  of  the  first  professional  year  is  done 
within  the  first  three  years  of  the  college  and  credits  therefor  ac- 
cepted in  the  professional  school;  Seniors  in  the  college  do  the 
second  year's  work  of  the  professional  school  and  credit  therefor  is 
accepted,  by  the  college.  Examples:  Illinois,  Northwestern. 

Second:  Two  years  of  the  professional  school  work  are  done 
in  the  college  and  credits  accepted  by  the  professional  school.  Ex- 
amples: Missouri,  Nebraska,  Chicago. 

Third:  After  the  first  two  years  of  college  work  are  com- 
pleted the  student  gives  his  whole  time  to  the  professional  work 
extending  over  four  years.  Examples:  Michigan,  California. 

In  the  combined  Law  courses  two  methods  are  found  in  use : 

First:  Seniors  or  Juniors  in  the  college  are  allowed  to  take 
work  in  the  professional  school  and  credit  is  transferred  to  the 
college.  This  transfer  to  the  extent  of  one  year's  professional  work 
is  allowed  in  Columbia,  Cornell,  Nebraska,  Chicago,  California. 

Second:  Exchange  of  credits  between  the  college  and  the  pro- 
fessional school.  Examples :  At  Wisconsin  the  college  allows  twelve 
semester  hours  from  the  Law  school,  and  the  Law  school  allows  eight 
semester  hours  from  the  college.  At  Iowa  University  the  college 
allows  ten  semester  hours  from  the  Law  school,  and  the  Law  school 
allows  ten  semester  hours  from  the  college. 

The  method  of  economy  followed  by  this  or  that  institution 
is  probably  determined  largely  by  local  conditions.  Nevertheless  it 


19 


may  be  hoped  that  profit  will  come  from  exchange  of  ideas  as  to 
the  merits  and  demerits  of  the  several  plans.  Some  of  those  insti- 
tutions which  offer  combined  courses  with  reduction  of  time  and 
unmodified  degrees  can  hardly  avoid  the  appearance  of  discrediting 
the  work  of  their  own  college,  since  they  practically  say  to  the  pros- 
pective professional  undergraduate  at  the  end  of  his  second  year: 
"Our  third  and  fourth  years  of  college  work  are  of  no  account  to 
you;  we  give  you  exactly  the  same  degrees  if  you  take  them  or 
if  you  do  not."  This  seems  a  strange  state  of  affairs  when  one 
has  in  mind  the  statement  often  heard  that  colleges  are  useful 
mainly  for  those  intending  to  enter  the  professions.  Nor  is  it 
surprising  in  view  of  this  treatment  of  the  prospective  professional 
student  that  the  question  arises  as  to  the  value  of  the  last  year 
or  the  last  two  years  to  the  non-professional  undergraduate.  Indeed, 
so  conspicuous  an  educator  as  President  Butler  advocates  reduction 
of  the  college  term  to  two  years  for  all.  This  movement  may  be 
regarded  as  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  reduction  of  time  for 
the  professional  student  without  change  of  degree.  There  are  those 
I  doubt  not  in  this  conference  who  will  see  in  this  situation  a  com- 
petition between  the  interests  of  the  college  and  the  professional 
school  and  having  the  interests  of  the  former  at  heart  will  regret 
the  apparent  tendency  of  this  movement. 

Again,  those  institutions  which  offer  the  combined  courses  with 
time  reduction  by  whatever  method  can  hardly  avoid  the  appear- 
ance either  of  belittling  time  as  a  factor  in  education  or  else  of  be- 
stowing degrees  with  less  than  the  conventional  meaning.  It  would 
not  be  wise  to  attach  too  great  significance  to  degrees.  Still  it 
may  be  fairly  said  that  they  constitute  a  trade-mark  with  more  or 
less  of  legal  status  and  of  commercial  and  sentimental  value.  The 
degrees  of  Law  and  Medicine  imply,  according  to  statute  in  many 
states,  three  years  in  the  one  and  four  years  in  the  other  school 
respectively.  The  bachelor's  degree  implies  almost  universally  in 
this  country  the  equivalent  in  work  at  least  of  the  old-fashioned 
course  of  four  years.  Now  if  the  two  degrees  are  desired  on  the 
one  hand  and  given  on  the  other,  it  should  be  for  the  things  which 
they  imply,  otherwise  they  are  the  outward  and  visible  sign  with- 
out the  thing  signified.  Of  the  thing  signified,  time  is  surely  an 
important  factor  and  an  essential  one,  although  not  the  sole  stand- 
ard of  measure.  As  matters  stand  at  present,  three  men  may  hold 
the  same  degrees  from  the  same  institution,  for  instance,  A.  B. 
and  M.  D.  All  may  have  started  at  the  same  point,  have  done 

30 


work  of  equally  good  grade  and  at  the  same  rate  per  year.  One 
has  worked  eight  years,  one  seven,  and  one  six.  These  years  would 
be  made  up  in  most  instances  four  years  in  the  Medical  school  and 
four  or  three  or  two  in  the  college.  Yet  all  are  put  under  the  same 
label.  Some  simple-minded  people  are  puzzled  to  understand  how 
time  should  be  so  important  a  factor  in  liberal  education,  that  it 
may  be  discounted  fifty  per  cent  without  disturbing  values,  while 
in  professional  education  it  is  so  important  that  its  integrity  is  pro- 
tected by  law.  Others,  perhaps,  think  that  there  is  a  real  disturb- 
ance of  values  by  the  giving  of  the  two  degrees  for  the  reduced 
courses,  and  they  may  object  to  the  plan  altogether  on  the  ground 
of  principle  because  it  implies  the  false  pretense  that  six  years 
are  as  good  as  eight  in  matters  educational. 

Another  significant  feature  of  the  existing  conditions  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  comparatively  few  of  the  institutions  which  have 
established  the  combined  courses  with  reduced  time  require  that 
their  professional  students  shall  follow  these  courses  in  order  to 
secure  the  professional  degree.  In  many  instances  the  requirements 
for  admission  to  the  professional  school  are  no  higher  than  those 
for  admission  to  the  college.  The  result  is  that  the  preparation  of 
the  professional  undergraduates  in  the  same  school  may  vary  from 
that  given  by  the  high  school  to  that  given  by  one,  two,  three,  or 
four  years  in  college.  Michigan  University  in  her  Medical  school 
requires  the  six  years  course  of  all.  Chicago  University  in  her  antic- 
ipatory announcements  makes  these  requirements  in  Medicine  and 
in  Law.  Western  Eeserve  does  the  same  in  Medicine. 

So  far  as  I  am  aware  these  instances  are  exceptional.  This  con- 
dition seems  to  imply  the  desire  to  induce  some  professional  students 
to  secure  a  better  preparation  than  the  minimum  which  the  profes- 
sional school  requires  of  all  for  admission  to  its  courses.  The  in- 
ducement consists  in  cutting  by  twenty-five  and  fifty  per  cent  the 
cost,  in  time,  of  the  collegiate  degree  for  those  who  take  the  two 
degrees  instead  of  one.  To  some  this  seems  an  expedient  of  doubtful 
wisdom  so  far  as  the  interests  of  the  college  are  concerned,  one 
likely  to  prove  a  transitional  measure  leading  from  four  years  to 
three  as  the  term  of  the  college  course  for  all. 

Those  who  view  these  tendencies  with  some  anxiety  may  perhaps 
find  a  hopeful  token  of  favorable  reaction  in  the  fact  that  Cornell 
University  has  withdrawn  (December,  1901)  the  combined  Medi- 
cal course  of  six  years  and  allows  the  economy  of  only  one  year. 
And  Dean  Vaughan,  of  the  Michigan  University  Medical  depart- 

21 


ment  said  before  the  American  Academy  of  Medicine  (summer  of 
1902),  "Our  faculty  may  think  it  wise  in  the  future  to  extend  our 
combination  course  to  seven  years.  In  fact  our  Medical  faculty 
is  ready  to  do  so  at  any  time." 

With  these  facts  in  mind  those  who  have  been  interested  in 
calling  this  conference  have  thought  that  there  might  be  profit  in  dis- 
cussing the  multiform  aspects  of  the  subject,  and  that  discussion 
might  possibly  help  to  improve  the  situation  which  reveals  so  much 
of  confusion  and  inconsistency. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

Professor  Young  must  have  read  his  paper  beforehand;  it  was 
exactly  twenty  minutes  long.  He  has  given  us  a  condition  and  not 
a  theory.  Now  we  will  have  a  theory.  "Has  the  college  a  field 
peculiar  to  itself  not  covered  by  the  technical  school  or  by  the  de- 
mands of  preparation  for  the  professional  school?"  The  first  paper 
will  be  by  President  Edward  D.  Eaton,  of  Beloit  College. 

PRESIDENT  EATON: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  higher  education, 
we  are  all  agreed,  should  make  a  man  at  home  in  his  world,  and 
fit  him  to  do  well  his  part  in  his  generation;  so  far  as  in  him  lies 
improving  the  world  for  the  use  of  his  own  and  succeeding  generations. 

To  this  end  his  education  must  give  him  a  large  amount  of 
useful  knowledge  and  must  train  him  for  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession if  he  is  to  have  one.  But  we  are  not  satisfied  unless  it  does 
more  than  that.  The  educated  man  belongs  to  the  minority  of  priv- 
ilege. He  is  literally  one  among  a  thousand.  Shall  he  regard 
himself  as  belonging  to  a  privileged  class,  the  aristocracy  of  culture, 
prepared  to  get  ahead  of  his  fellow  men  and  justified  in  doing  it, 
or  secluding  himself  in  the  enjoyment  of  learning?  This  insidious 
tendency  lurks  in  all  education.  It  is  especially  to  be  regretted  if 
it  develops  in  a  republic  where  the  welfare  of  the  nation  is  condi- 
tioned upon  the  sympathetic  interaction  of  all  classes  of  society, 
and  where  the  educated  must  be  the  recognized  leaders  of  the  masses. 
The  ignorant  vote  will  wreck  the  commonwealth,  unless  trained  in- 
telligence is  willing  and  able  to  transform  the  ignorant  voter. 

There  is  no  question  that  the  American  college  has  been  a  dis- 
tinctive and  potent  influence  in  this  direction  during  all  our  na- 
tional life  thus  far.  From  the  day  when  the  pioneers  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  in  1636,  established  Harvard  College,  down  to  the 
present  hour,  college  men  have  been  founders  of  commonwealths, 

22 


makers  of  constitutions,  state  and  federal,  and  interpreters  of  the 
same,  leaders  of  public  opinion,  framers  of  laws  and  moulders  of 
institutions. 

Has  this  been  an  accidental  distinction  of  the  college,  due  to 
the  fact  that  it  chanced  to  be  the  opportunity  for  education  open 
to  American  youth  hitherto?  Would  other  educational  institutions, 
had  they  existed,  have  served  the  purpose  equally  well,  and  may 
the  college  be  retired  with  thanks  if  educational  convenience  suggests 
that  it  be  superseded?  On  the  contrary,  we  believe  it  can  be  shown 
that  the  college  is  organically  connected  with  our  national  welfare; 
that  its  educational  service  is  unique;  and  that  it  can  not  be  dis- 
carded except  with  distinct  and  serious  loss.  The  limits  of  the 
present  paper  will  permit  but  the  merest  outline  of  some  of  the 
grounds  for  such  a  conviction. 

First:  College  life  is  a  fellowship  of  the  ages.  One  of  the 
essentials  of  an  adequate  education  is  that  it  give  the  young  fellow 
some  true  perspective  of  life;  that  he  should  see  not  merely  the 
foreground  of  the  picture  where  he  and  his  set  or  even  his  country 
happen  to  be  figuring,  but  that  these  should  be  placed  in  the  wide 
landscape  of  human  experience.  It  is  an  essential  advantage  of  the  / 
college  that  it  takes  one  before  his  eyes  are  focused  upon  his  own 
life-work,  and  gives  him  opportunity  of  intelligent  participation  in  \ 
the  struggles  and  achievements  of  many  centuries  and  many  lands. 
It  was  for  him  that  Socrates  trod  the  streets  of  Athens,  inspiring 
men  with  love  of  virtue.  For  him  Dante  was  led,  with  blanched 
cheek  and  burning  spirit,  through  the  circles  of  the  inferno.  For 
him  the  Greek  scholar,  fleeing  from  the  doom  of  Constantinople, 
carried  in  his  bosom  the  manuscripts  of  Homer  and  Sophocles.  For 
him  Milton  poured  forth  the  organ  tones  of  his  soul.  For  him 
Bacon  and  Newton  and  Kant  were  sunk  in  thought.  For  him  Coper- 
nicus and  Herschel  sailed  the  ocean  of  the  sky;  for  him  Agassiz 
built  his  hut  upon  the  glacier's  stream,  and  Darwin  gathered  facts 
with  endless  careful  scrutiny  of  Nature.  With  all  these  and  such 
as  these  he  lives  from  day  to  day,  and  the  breadth  of  their  existence 
enters  unconsciously  into  his. 

Second:  There  exists  in  college  a  unique  comradeship  of  vari- 
ous social  classes,  and  interaction  of  diverse  tastes.  It  is  the  only 
ideal  democracy  in  existence.  The  son  of  the  man  "of  wealth  is 
fellow  to  the  boy  who  is  dependent  upon  jobs  of  work  for  his  food 
and  clothes.  One  who  is  later  to  be  a  manufacturer  or  merchant 
or  teacher  is  now  in  close  intimacy  with  others  who  are  to  become 

23 


physicians  or  politicians.  In  the  informal  relationships  and  inti- 
macies of  class  room,  athletic  field  and  dormitory  the  most  various 
points  of  view  are  presented,  the  most  dissimilar  interests  are  re- 
garded. This  inestimable  freedom  of  relationship  is  due  in  part 
to  the  fact  that  all  are  living  more  or  less  completely  in  a  spacious 
world  of  the  humanities,  and  in  the  fellowship  of  pursuits  which 
encourage  the  recognition  of  their  common  young  manhood.  I  have 
seen  a  student  with  negro  blood  in  his  veins  reach  his  college  town 
after  winning  honors  in  an  interstate  contest  in  oratory,  to  be  seized, 
as  the  train  stopped,  by  his  white  fellow  students,  and  borne  in 
triumph  on  their  shoulders  to  the  college  buildings.  Could  such 
a  thing  be  even  imagined  anywhere  else?  The  greater  the  univer- 
sity, the  smaller  the  circle  of  friends,  in  the  case  of  many  students; 
while  some  are  absolutely  solitary,  others  gravitate  into  a  select  group 
of  those  of  their  own  standing  or  predilections.  But  the  college 
is  a  republic  where  all  are  fellow  citizens. 

How  much  it  is  worth  to  have  these  young  men  think  out 
into  life  along  such  a  variety  of  lines,  and  realize  something  of 
the  importance  of  various  callings,  before  they  join  the  company 
of  those  whose  whole  study  and  talk  is  of  cadavers  and  diagnosis, 
or  those  whose  attention  is  concentrated  upon  points  of  theology 
or  heads  of  sermons.  How  much  it  is  worth  to  have  the  bread  of 
truth  not  yet  continually  thick  buttered  with  professional  advantages. 

It  is  little  wonder  that  as  a  rule  college  friendships  retain 
through  life  so  much  more  charm  than  ever  attaches  to  the  acquain- 
tanceship of  the  professional  or  technical  school.  To  know  well 
through  life  so  many  men  in  callings  wholly  unlike  my  own,  and 
to  have  our  friendship  invested  with  the  glamour  of  college  days, 
so  that  we  are  to  each  other  always  boys  when  by  others  we  are 
discounted  as  old  men,  is  not  this  alone  worth  all  the  college  course 
may  cost  ?  This  may  be  a  matter  of  sentiment ;  but  was  not  Charles 
Kingsley  right  when  he  said,  "By  sentiment  well  directed,  as  by 
sorrow  wisely  used,  great  nations  live"? 

Third:  The  college  is  the  best  agency  ever  devised  for  the  de- 
velopment of  character  under  the  touch  of  inspiring  teachers.  Per- 
sonality is  evoked  and  molded  most  of  all  by  personality.  The  skilful 
and  sympathetic  teacher  has  an  opportunity  with  his  college  pupils 
that  is  almost  limitless.  Our  age  rightly  sets  great  store  by  the  inves- 
tigator. The  strides  we  are  making  in  knowledge,  the  conquests  of 
applied  science,  would  be  impossible  without  him.  The  develop- 
ment the  universities  are  to  have  in  his  interest  no  one  can  measure. 

34 


But  the  investigator  may  be  a  failure  as  a  teacher,  and  be  destitute 
of  power  to  realize  the  best  possibilities  of  young  lives.  The  college 
teacher,  at  once  companion  and  guide,  mentor  and  friend,  restrainer 
and  quickener,  is  a  true  maker  of  men.  Hopkins,  Woolsey,  Wayland, 
McCosh,  Fairchild,  Haven,  Chapin,  Cummings,  and  hundreds  of 
others,  were  great  as  college  men,  in  close  and  stimulating  touch 
with  generations  of  students  who  owned  through  life  the  decisive 
influence  upon  them  of  these  builders  of  manhood.  Such  college 
men  have  richly  supplied  our  country  with  the  maintainers  of  her 
freedom  characterized  by  Lowell  as 

"Men  by  culture  trained  and  fortified, 
Who  bitter  duty  to  sweet  lusts  prefer, 
Fearless  to  counsel  and  obey." 

The  work  they  did  must  be  done  again  for  every  generation  if  our^ 
"national  life  is  to  be  maintained  at  a  high  level.     It  can  not  be 
adequately  done  in  the  professional  and  technical  schools,  with  their 
loose-knit  organization  and  necessarily  impersonal  relation   of  lec- 
turers ;  it  can  nowhere  be  done  so  well  as  in  the  college. 

Fourth:  The  college  is  the  best  instrumentality  we  possess 
for  awakening  the  sense  of  social  responsibility.  In  the  university 
or  professional  school  a  student  must  tend  to  exist  for  himself.  He 
is  intent  on  carrying  out  his  own  plans  for  his  personal  career, 
and  his  success  depends  in  large  measure  upon  his  aloofness  from 
other  interests.  But  in  college  every  man  is  organically  related  to 
other  men  and  to  a  great  variety  of  interests.  His  class  makes  de- 
mands upon  him  which  are  reinforced  by  his  own  class-feeling.  Col- 
lege athletics,  college  literary  and  oratorical  events,  Christian  asso- 
ciation work,  fraternity  life  with  the  intimacies  and  responsibilities 
of  a  home,  claim  his  activity,  and  assess  him  in  their  various  enter- 
prises.)^ He  is  judged  at  the  bar  of  college  public  opinion  by  his 
serviceability  to  the  college  community.  There  is  a  constantly  act- 
ing and  powerful  influence  organizing  the  student  into  the  life  of 
the  community,  and  developing  in  him  an  instinct  of  obligation  to 
public  service,  which  is  an  invaluable  preparation  for  citizenship. 
College  men  as  a  rule  manifest  public  spirit  in  their  subsequent  career, 
and 'are  ready  to  shoulder  the  burdens  of  the  public  weal.  The  title ) 
of  President  Woodrow  Wilson's  inaugural  address,  "Princeton  for 
the  Nation's  Service/'  gives  true  expression  of  the  fundamental  value 
of  the  American  college. 

The  high  school  is  anchored  to  secondary  methods  and  ideals. 
Thus  its  honor  is  its  fatal  limitation  when  it  is  tempted  to  do  col- 


25 


lege  work.  The  high  school  senior  measures  himself  with  children. 
What  he  needs  is  to  become  a  Freshman  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
instead  of  being  promoted  to  a  double  senior  and  triple  senior  in 
the  high  school,  be  set  down  on  the  lowest  bench  in  college,  with 
Sophomores  ready  to  teach  him  humility.  Irreparable  damage  will 
be  done  to  American  education  if  the  high  schools,  already  over- 
loaded, are  stimulated  to  imagine  they  can  be  colleges  also. 

President  Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  in  his  introduction  to  Paul- 
sen's  Essay  on  German  Universities,  has  justly  remarked  that  it  is 
a  false  assumption  that  the  American  college  is  to  be  classed  with 
the  German  gymnasium  as  a  secondary  school;  and  that  to  confuse 
the  American  college  with  the  German  gymnasium  is  inexcusable. 
Serious  evils  result  in  Germany  from  passing  at  once  from  the  gym- 
nasium, all  discipline  and  textbooks,  to  the  university,  all  lectures 
and  lernfreiheit.  These  evils  have  been  largely  obviated  in  the  Amer- 
ican system.  At  the  college  age  our  youth  are  not  boys  and  are 
not  fully  men.  It  is  a  time  of  promise  and  of  peril.  To  herd 
them  with  boys  or  subject  them  to  the  discipline  of  boys,  is  futile, 
if  not  disastrous.  To  free  them  from  control  and  relegate  them  to 
their  own  immature  self-determination,  is  certainly  disastrous.  The 
union  of  wise  guidance  and  freedom  has  been  found  in  the  college. 
The  Emperor  William  is  not  alone  among  Germans  in  thinking  and 
declaring  that  Germany  has  too  many  university-educated  men,  crowd- 
ing the  professions  and  leading  the  ranks  of  the  discontented  classes. 
But  we  can  hardly  imagine  too  many  young  Americans  getting  a 
college  training.  They  are  quickly  absorbed  in  the  varied  life  of 
business,  of  industry,  or  the  professions,  after  securing  in  some  de- 
gree a  disciplined  breadth,  quite  other  than  the  breadth  acquired 
through  unrelated  elections  and  lectures.  They  are  saved  for  life 
from  the  conceit  of  erudition  and  the  provincialism  of  the  specialist. 
While  safeguarded  from  many  of  the  recognized  evils  of  over-spe- 
cialization, they  are  also  delivered  from  the  complacency  and  the 
contracted  outlook  which  are  the  perils  of  the  "self-made"  man. 
They  are  enhanced  in  value  as  American  citizens,  whatever  their 
calling. 

If  there  is  force  in  the  considerations  suggested  in  this  discus- 
sion, is  it  unreasonable  to  think  that  one  source  of  the  efficiency  and 
flexibility  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  is  the  college  system,  which 
has  been  for  so  many  centuries  the  distinctive  characteristic  of  the 
English  universities,  and  which  was  so  early  planted  and  so  deeply 
rooted  in  American  soil,  but  which  among  us  has  for  a  generation 

36 


and  more  been  fed  from  German  rather  than  English  scholarship,  so 
that  the  German  ideals  of  scientific  research  and  productive  scholar- 
ship have  united  fruitfully  with  the  English  college  system  in  the 
development  of  the  typical  American  college. 

As  President  Butler  has  said  in  the  paper  already  quoted,  "the 
college  has  proved  to  be  well  suited  to  the  demands  of  American 
life,  and  to  be  a  powerful  force  in  American  civilization  and  cul- 
ture." We  all  acknowledge  the  personal  obligation  of  reciprocal 
social  service;  does  not  this  obligation  extend  also  to  corporate  mem- 
bers of  society?  Is  it  not  incumbent  upon  the  colleges  to  give  the 
best  possible  training  to  large  numbers  of  young  people  for  gradu- 
ation into  the  rich  opportunities  and  special  development  afforded 
by  the  universities,  and  to  co-operate  intelligently  with  the  univer- 
sities in  the  due  adjustment  of  courses  of  study  that  delay  and  dupli- 
cation may  be  avoided?  And  is  it  not  also  the  privilege  of  the 
universities  so  to  administer  their  work  and  direct  their  influence 
as  not  to  cripple  and  throttle  the  colleges,  but  rather  to  uphold  and 
stimulate  them  in  their  unique  contribution  to  American  life? 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  We  shall  now  be  favored  with  a  paper  by 
President  M,  P.  Bowling,  of  Creighton  University. 

PRESIDENT  BOWLING:  As  the  great  mass  of  children  never  go 
beyond  the  elementary  grades,  the  studies  laid  down  for  the  pri- 
mary schools  should  not  be  dominated  by  the  requirements  of  the 
high  school,  but  should  aim  at  giving  the  best  life  equipment  to  the 
multitudes  who  can  not  hope  for  a  higher  education.  As  the  large 
majority  of  the  high  school  pupils  do  not  take  a  college  course,  the 
needs  of  those  who  stop  within  the  twelfth  grade  should  mainly  be 
considered  in  formulating  a  high  school  curriculum.  As  many  col- 
lege graduates  do  not  undertake  professional  or  technical  studies, 
they  should  not  be  compelled  to  take  a  course  adapted  only,  or  mainly, 
to  the  wants  of  the  future  specialist,  but  should  have  the  advantage 
of  a  liberal  education,  calculated  to  prepare  them  for  any  pursuit 
which  they  may  afterward  choose.  I  hold,  then,  that  the  college 
has  a  distinct  scope  of  its  own,  and  I  answer  in  the  affirmative  the 
first  question:  Has  the  college  a  field  peculiar  to  itself,  not  cov- 
ered by  the  technical  school  and  not  serving  solely  as  preparatory 
to  the  professional  school?  If,  as  seems  likely  to  happen,  the  col- 
lege course  be  reduced  to  two,  or  even  three  years,  there  would  be 
still  stronger  reason  for  an  affirmative  answer. 

Even  for  those  who  afterward  take  up  professional  and  tech- 


27 


nical  studies,  the  time  spent  in  purely  college  work  is  not  only  not 
lost,,  but  is  an  invaluable  help  for  more  thorough  and  effective  work 
in  their  chosen  vocation.  It  gives  the  student  a  firmer  grasp  of 
principles,  a  superior  mental  development  and  qualifies  him  better 
for  specialization.  It  makes  him  more  penetrating,  masterly;  it 
secures  quicker  and  more  telling  results;  it  enables  him  to  over- 
come difficulties  and  solve  problems  more  speedily  and  make  more 
headway  in  a  shorter  time;  it  gives  him  greater  assurance  of  success 
I  in  any  field. 

If  the  university  reaching  downward  and  the  high  school  reach- 
ing upward  should  finally  absorb  the  college,  till  it  disappears  alto- 
gether as  a  distinct  entity,  this  present  question  will  still  be  far 
from  settlement,  will  still  demand  an  answer;  because  the  branches 
now  forming  the  main  staple  of  the  accepted  college  course  contrib- 
ute so  unmistakably  to  the  best  mental  endowment,  that  they  can 
not,  without  loss  to  culture  and  serious  detriment  to  the  proper 
development  of  the  human  mind,  be  diverted  or  passed  over,  for 
the  benefit  of  any  special  education.  Seth  Low  gives  this  testimony : 
"It  is  doubtless  true  that  the  college  graduate  entering  on  a  busi- 
ness career  is  at  a  disadvantage  the  first  few  years  of  his  business 
life  as  compared  with  one  who  entered  business  when  he  entered 
college.  If,  however,  the  man  has  a  capacity  for  business,  I  ven- 
ture to  say  that  in  five  years,  certainly  in  ten,  he  will  find  himself 
more  than  abreast  of  his  friend  who  did  not  go  to  college.  The 
trained  mind  can  master  the  problems  of  business  better  than  the 
untrained  mind,  and  it  can  master  other  problems  better  for  which 
it  has  itself  any  natural  capacity."  Very  opposite,  too,  are  the  words 
of  Dr.  Louis  H.  Steiner,  addressed  to  the  American  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine: "On  the  whole  it  must  seem  almost  incredible  to  any  one 
who  has  availed  himself  of  the  advantages  furnished  by  a  faithful 
study  of  Latin  and  Greek  before  entering  on  his  medical  studies, 
that  a  student  could  deliberately  forego  these — that  he  would  under- 
take to  fight  his  way  without  the  assistance  they  are  able  to  render 
at  almost  every  step  of  his  progress.  In  all  my  experience  I  never 
heard  a  physician  who  had  faithfully  gone  through  a  classical  course 
under  competent  teachers,  regret  the  time  spent  in  forming  an 
acquaintance  with  these  ancient  languages,  while  it  has  been  my 
lot  to  meet  many  who  deeply  lamented  their  error  in  neglecting  them 
in  their  youth,  and  labored  zealously  to  repair  the  same  afterward 
by  private  study  at  an  advanced  age." 

If  you  ask  what  kind  of  a  college  I  have  in  mind  in  giving 

as 


this  affirmative  answer,  I  reply,  it  is  one  that  gives  a  general  or 
liberal  education,  one  that  stands  for  a  well-balanced  system,  pref- 
erably a  rigid  system.  It  need  not  offer  a  great  multiplicity  of 
courses,  or  pretend  to  satisfy  every  applicant,  by  allowing  him  to 
select  at  will  from  many  branches,  sometimes  incompatible  and  often 
of  only  secondary  importance,  thus  leaving  considerable  gaps  in  the 
knowledge  of  essential  subjects.  It  maps  out  a  curriculum  which 
makes  obligatory  such  branches  as  in  some  form,  however  elementary, 
are  deemed  absolutely  essential  for  a  liberal  education.  It  does 
not  promise  that  the  youth  who  takes  this  course  will  have  a  spe- 
cialist^ knowledge  of  any  individual  subject,  nor  does  it  say  that 
he  will  be  completely  educated  at  the  end  of  his  course,  but  he  will 
have  a  more  harmoniously  rounded  education  and  will  be  fairly 
acquainted  with  a  greater  number  of  essential  branches,  than  by  fol- 
lowing a  system  based  on  electives  and  specialties.  The  plan  may 
not  suit  all  comers,  but  it  does  afford  a  good,  sound,  thorough  edu- 
cation. It  does  not  pretend  to  teach  everything,  but  it  teaches  thor- 
oughly and  successfully  what  it  undertakes  to  teach.  Its  motto  is 
"non  multa  sed  multum" ';  it  believes  in  "unum  post  aliud,"  in  thor- 
oughness, concentration,  method,  ^fn  other  words,  it  is  an  institu- 
tion that  furnishes  a  good,  general,  classical,  literary  and  scientific 
education.  Moderate  electives  for  undergraduates  and  limited  spe- 
cialization for  particular  students  are  not  necessarily  out  of  har- 
mony with  such  a  college. v  With  such  a^  clearly  defined  scope,  a 
sphere  of  activity  distinctly  marked  out,  the  college  could  and  should 
be  kept  free  from  all  entangling  alliances  likely  to  divert  it  from  its 
purpose  of  giving  a  good  general  education.  My  ideal  college  opens 
up  the  treasures  of  ancient  and  modern  literature  and  languages,  and 
establishes  a  familiarity  with  the  best  authors;  it  gives  a  working 
knowledge  of  physics  and  chemistry,  a  fair  acquaintance  with  sur- 
veying and  astronomy,  a  systematic  training  in  fundamental  mathe- 
matics. It  teaches  ancient  and  modern  history,  the  various  kinds 
of  composition,  elocution  and  oratory;  it  cultivates  a  graceful  deliv- 
ery, trains  for  the  discussion  of  live  questions,  forms  the  taste,  en- 
ables the  student  to  think,  write  and  speak  correctly  and  elegantly. 
It  promotes  acquaintance  with  sociology,  political  science  and  eco- 
nomic laws,  it  finds  place  for  the  rules  of  harmony,  it  unfolds  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States  and  the  principles  underlying  pop- 
ular government.  Who  will  say  that  these  are  superfluous  or  useless 
accomplishments,  which  even  the  specialist  may  ignore?  We  have 
excellent  authority  for  saying  that  the  main  end  of  education  should 

39 


be  to  unfold  the  faculties.  It  is  not  so  much  the  actual  impart- 
ing of  knowledge  as  the  development  of  the  power  to  gain  knowledge, 
the  ability  to  apply  the  intellect,  utilize  -the  memory,  make  use 
of  observation  and  facts.  It  is  not  essential  that  the  studies  pro- 
ducing these  results  have  a  direct  bearing  on  after  life,  any  more 
than  it  is  necessary  for  the  athlete  in  the  development  of  his  powers 
to  wield  trie  blacksmith's  hammer  instead  of  dumb  bells,  which 
play  no  part  in  his  subsequent  career;  he  discards  them  all  when 
the  physical  powers  have  been  developed.  "The  business  of  educa- 
tion," says  Locke,  "is  not,  I  think,  to  perfect  the  learner  in  any 
of  the  sciences,  but  to  give  his  mind  that  freedom  and  disposition 
and  those  habits  which  may  enable  him  to  attain  every  part  of 
knowledge  himself."  Speaking  of  Plato,  Bishop  Spalding  says: 
"The  ideal  presented  is  that  of  a  complete,  harmonious  culture,  the 
aim  of  which  is  not  to  make  an  artisan,  a  physician,  a  merchant,  a 
lawyer,  but  a  man  alive  in  all  his  faculties;  touching  the  world  at 
many  points;  for  whom  all  knowledge  is  desirable  and  all  beauty 
lovable,  and  for  whom  fine  bearing  and  noble  action  are  indispen- 
sable." "With  such  education,"  says  another  authority,  "as  a  basis, 
the  young  man  may  become  a  specialist  not  with  a  warped  mind, 
>ut  with  one  capable  of  receiving  aid  in  his  own  particular  science 
)m  all  studies." 

In  my  opinion,  specialization  should  begin  only  after  the  mind 
has  been  well  formed  and  strengthened  by  general  studies;  other- 
wise, there  is  a  one-sided  development.  It  will  doubtless  be  ad- 
mitted that  premature  specialization  has  a  tendency  to  make  men  I 
narrow,  to  take  away  breadth  of  mind,  soulful  sympathy,  correct- 
ness and  justness  of  judgment  outside  their  own  chosen  sphere;  that 
it  often  dwarfs  the  mind,  blunts  the  finer  sensibilities,  dries  up  the 
esthetic  and  emotional  nature,  makes  men  hard,  dry,  arrogant,  un- 
yielding and  impervious  to  argument,  producing  effects  the  very  oppo-_ 
site  of  humanism  or  the  humanities.  YOne  of  the  most  influential 
scientific  journals  in  this  country  complained  several  years  ago  of 
a  condition  directly  traceable  to  early  specialization  and  to  the  neg- 
lect of  general  education.  The  charge  was  that  scientists,  however 
well  informed  in  their  chosen  branches,  are  often  unable  to  write 
a  clear,  forcible,  and  intelligent  paper  on  any  subject.  They  are 
weak  in  grammar,  punctuation  and  phraseology,  unacquainted  with 
the  value  and  force  of  words;  they  seldom  do  justice  to  themselves 
or  their  conceptions,  on  account  of  their  defective  composition.  Early 
specialization  is  also  injurious  because  many  young  people  do  not 


30 


know  what  their  life  work  is  to  be.  Their  tastes  and  predilections 
are  often  founded  on  circumstances  entirely  accidental.  They  fre- 
quently change  their  object  and  sometimes  finish  with  some  subject 
ofr  specialization  very  different  from  that  for  which  they  originally 
^nought  themselves  best  fitted. 

sS*C  I  plead,  then,  for  a  general  or  liberal  education,  a  good  founda- 
\  tion  for  specialties,  technical  and  professional  work.  I  incline  to 
|  what  some  call  the  rigid  system,  that  is,  few  electives,  and  those 
well  measured,  and  dependent  on  the  judgment  of  the  master  rather 
than  the  disciple.  I  am  well  aware  that  such  a  view  places  me  irre- 
deemably in  the  class  of  "old  fogies."  This  being  the  case,  I  have 
nothing  to  lose  by  disapproving  of  that  empiric  or  experimental 
method  which  today  is  considered  quite  as  essential  in  the  educa- 
tional field  as  in  the  scientific  workshop.  The  treasured  wisdom 
gathered  from  long  and  costly  experience  is  readily  cast  aside  and 
little  appears  worthy  of  acceptance  unless  it  be  new.  Few  are  con- 
tent to  be  mere  educators,  working  along  the  safe  line  of  established 
knowledge;  every  elementary  teacher,  no  matter  how  imperfect  his 
mental  endowments,  must  be  a  reformer,  an  inventor,  a  discoverer. 
When  will  educational  leaders  learn  that  it  is  better  to  be  right 
than  to  be  original,  better  to  propose  something  safe  than  something 
startling,  better  to  base  a  system  on  sound  philosophy,  even  if  others 
have  done  the  same  before,  than  to  leave  the  beaten  track  in  search 
of  untried  and,  perhaps,  dangerous  novelties?  There  are  established 
principles  and  practices  that  must  always  have  place  in  education, 
because  they  are  based  on  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  and  the 
perennial  needs  of  man,  because  they  respond  to  aspirations  as  deep- 
seated  as  human  nature  itself.  Customs  and  habits  and  men  may 
change,  but  human  nature  never;  and,  therefore,  the  essential  land- 
marks in  mind  development  mist  ever  remain  immovable. 

The  view  presented  does  not  forbid  studies  aimed  at  professional 
work,  for  those  who  insist  on  them.  It  does  plead  for  liberal  studies, 
and  encouragement  of  them,  in  behalf  of  the  vast  majority,  that 
is,  for  those  who  can  afford  to  spend  more  time  before  beginning 
their  life  work,  and  for  those  who  never  intend  to  enter  a  profes- 
sion at  all.  For  smaller  colleges,  especially,  this  method  is  pref- 
erable. They  have  a  clearly  defined  scope.  By  keeping  to  their 
own  field  they  will  do  more  for  their  clients  than  by  undertaking 
work  for  which  they  have  neither  financial  resources,  facilities,  ap- 
pliances nor  demand.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  it  is  really  possible 
to  obtain  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts  with  less  scholarship,  by 

31 


selecting  easy  courses  in  some  colleges  of  higher  standing,  in  which 
the  elective  system  prevails,  than  it  is  under  the  so-called  rigid 
system,  which  prescribes  a  definite  course  and  leaves  little  latitude 
of  choice. 

The  opinions  advanced  are  based  on  these  principles: 

First:  There  are  some  branches  of  study  absolutely  necessary 
in  any  schema  of  liberal  education.  Without  a  knowledge  of  these 
no  man  can  be  called  educated. 

Second:  For  a  finished  education  there  is,  in  each  of  the  de- 
partments of  study,  a  minimum  of  knowledge  essential  for  a  man 
of  culture. 

Third:  The  aim  of  a  truly  liberal  education  is  the  harmonious 
development  of  all  the  faculties,  the  careful  training  of  mind  and 
heart,  and  the  formation  of  character,  rather  than  the  actual  im- 
parting of  knowledge  and  the  specific  equipment  for  a  limited  sphere 
of  action. 

Fourth:  All  branches  of  study  are  not  equally  serviceable  for 
the  mental  and  moral  development.  Some  contain  mind-developing 
factors  and  character-building  elements  which  no  electivism  should 
replace. 

Fifth:  Precepts,  models  and  practice  should  keep  pace  in  every 
well-ordered  system;  all  the  branches  should  be  directed  to  some  one 
definite  end. 

Sixth:  Young  students  are  not  the  proper  judges  of  the  studies 
essential  for  a  systematic  and  thorough  development  of  their  faculties, 
or  even  for  success  in  after  life. 

Seventh:  Selection  of  branches  should  be  permitted  to  none  but 
those  whose  minds  have  already  been  formed  by  the  studies  essential 
to  character-building  and  who  have  themselves  practically  determined 
on  their  own  life  work. 

Eighth:  There  is  no  royal  road  to  knowledge.  Placing  the 
name  on  the  register  of  a  college  does  not  make  a  student;  a  multi- 
plicity of  courses,  which  a  student  is  free  to  ignore,  does  not  make 
a  scholar. 

Ninth:  The  studies  pursued  need  not  be  directly  useful  in 
after  life. 

Some  of  you  educators  may  tell  me  that  the  scheme  proposed  is 
too  ambitious,  the  course  prescribed  purely  ideal,  that  neither  college 
nor  university  does  anything  like  the  work  mapped  out,  that  anyone 
practically  acquainted  with  the  atmosphere  of  the  class  room  will 
laugh  at  the  grotesque  appearance  of  this  stuffed  curriculum.  To  this 

32 


I  answer,  that  I  would  form  the  same  judgment  myself,  if  there  were 
question  of  the  minutiae  of  specialization,  instead  of  the  general  cul- 
tu/e  intended. 

~^r — To  sum  up  the  contentions  of  this  paper:  A  general  or  liberal 
education  is  advantageous,  and  to  some  extent  necessary,  for  all  who 
aim  at  culture,  even  for  those  who  enter  professional  and  technical 
schools.  The  college  which  stands  for  a  well-balanced  and  fairly  rigid 
system  is  preferable.  The  ideal  college  is  one  that  promotes  general 
culture,  one  that  is  free  from  entangling  alliances  and  premature 
specialization.  There  are  established  principles  and  practices  in  educa- 
tion, based  on  the  nature  of  the  human  mind  and  responding  to  aspira- 
tions as  deep  seated  as  human  nature  itself.  These  cannot  be  ignored. 
I  have  said  that  a  certain  kind  and  amount  of  training  is  necessary 
and  that  the  college  gives  that  peculiar  training.  I  will  go  a  step 
further,  and  add  explicitly,  that  nothing  else  can  supply  it.  The  times 
in  which  we  live,  our  social,  economical  and  political  conditions,  call 
for  cultivated  and  cultured  men,  such  as  are  produced  only  by  the  col- 
lege. Unfortunately,  time  does  not  allow  the  development  of  this 
familiar  idea,  which  is  really  the  pith  of  this  question,  the  gist  of  every 
argument.  Suggested,  though  not  expressed,  it  formed  the  undercur- 
rent of  my  thought  throughout.  But  if  we  need  the  end,  we  need  the 
means  essential  for  obtaining  it.  So  I  claim  f-hat  the  college  furnish- 
ing this  liberal  culture  performs  a  necessary  function,  which  no  other 
educational  agency  can  replace. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  : 

We  shall  now  be  favored  with  a  paper  by  President  George  C. 
Chase,  of  Bates  College. 

PRESIDENT  CHASE: 

Mr.  Chairman,  and  Gentlemen :  The  Place  of  the  College  in  our 
System  of  Education.  Fifty  years  ago  few  thinkers  would  have  cred- 
ited the  United  States  with  an  educational  system.  Have  we  such  a 
system  today? 

A  system  may  be  defined  as  "the  combination  of  parts  into  a 
whole  in  accordance  with  some  uniform  law,  principle  or  purpose." 
What  is  the  uniform  principle  or  purpose  in  accordance  with  which 
the  schools  of  our  country  are  combined  into  a  symmetrical  whole  ?  We 
are  forced  to  admit  that  no  such  principle  or  purpose  has  yet  become 
fully  operative.  Yet  we  notice  the  partial  working  of  a  principle  that 
is  evidently  destined  to  issue  in  a  complete  educational  system.  It  is 
the  principle  of  promoting  the  common  welfare,  economic,  political 

33 


and  moral — moral  in  the  broadest  sense  as  including  the  intellectual, 
the  aesthetic  and  the  ethical.  The  democratic  spirit  that  constructed 
the  Constitution  of  our  government  has  expressed  itself  hardly  less 
definitely  in  our  schools.  Often  ill  adjusted  to  one  another,  sometimes 
duplicating  or  repeating  the  work  of  the  same  student.,  not  infre- 
quently presenting  huge  gaps  in  the  natural  order  of  succession,  and 
usually  dwarfed  and  hindered  by  inadequate  resources  and  appliances, 
the  schools  of  our  country  have  gradually  been  approximating  a  sys- 
tem whose  unifying  principle  is  the  promotion  in  due  relation  to  one 
another  of  the  many-sided  well-being  of  the  people.  In  this  developing 
system  there  is  now  evident  a  division  and  correlation  of  work  that  is 
full  of  promise.  Schools  for  culture,  for  technical  and  professional 
ends,  and  for  research,  are  falling  into  a  complete  and  orderly  whole. 

There  are  four  ways  in  which  educational  institutions  may  pro- 
mote the  general  welfare :  By  giving  their  recipients  more  productive 
efficiency ;  by  elevating  them  as  moral  beings ;  by  engaging  their  ener- 
gies in  research ;  and  by  preparing  them  to  be  the  active  and  faithful 
guardians  of  all  the  interests  of  a  civilized  people.  All  true  education 
will  contribute  something  to  each  of  these  results,  but  in  proportions 
varying  with  the  agencies  employed. 

Our  elementary  schools  seek  and  find  their  chief  return  in  produc- 
tive efficiency;  but  they  also  prepare  the  way  for  the  attainment  of 
the  other  results,  and  even  actively  contribute  to  them.  Our  secondary 
schools,  also,  aim  chiefly  to  promote  productive  efficiency ;  but  place  a 
stronger  emphasis  upon  -the  other  ends,  especially  upon  the  moral  ele- 
vation of  their  pupils.^Our  technical  and  professional  schools  are 
established  expressly  to  promote  efficiency,  their  products  ministering 
to  higher  needs  and  demanding  the  exercise  of  higher  powers.  The 
university,  in  the  narrowest  meaning  that  educators  tend  to  give  the 
word,  has  as  its  chief  function,  research — extending  the  bounds  of 
knowledge.  The  preparatory  school  and  the  college  aim  both  to  give 
their  students  moral  elevation  and  to  prepare  them  to  be  the  disinter- 
ested and  devoted  guardians  of  the  general  welfare.  The  preparatory 
school  aims  more  at  moral  elevation  and  the  college  more  at  social  and 
public  service. 

The  primary  purpose  of  the  college  is  to  promote  the  general 
welfare.  Its  second  conscious  aim  is  to  impart  to  its  students  true 
moral  elevation.  Indeed,  the  higher  satisfactions  of  the  soul — satis- 
factions intellectual,  aesthetic,  and  ethical — are  the  main  spring  of 
that  discipline  and  culture  indispensable  to  successful  service  in  the 
interests  of  the  community.  Nor  does  the  college  ever  lose  sight  of 

34 


the  conditions  of  that  material  progress  which,  by  increasing  comfort, 
economizing  strength,  providing  needful  appliances,  and  insuring 
leisure,  powerfully  contributes  to  character  and  happiness. 

It  promotes  research  only  incidentally,  by  inspiring  the  love  of 
truth  and  developing  the  aptitude  for  investigation.  Its  paramount 
aim  is  the  highest  well-being  of  the  community.  Harvard's  "Christo 
et  Ecclesiae"  as  representing  her  noblest  conception  of  worthy  aims 
was  an  adequate  motto  for  the  college.  Her  earlier  "Veritas"  fore- 
shadowed the  university. 

How  shall  the  college  attain  her  paramount  aims  ?  First,  by  de- 
veloping men  who  exemplify  the  elements  and  the  resources  in  which 
well-being  consists — men  trained  to  observe,  compare,  generalize,  rea-  * 

son ;  men  who  think  and  feel  worthily,  express  themselves  appropriate- 
ly, decide  wisely,  and  act  promptly;  men  who  delight  in  those  all- 
inclusive  moral  laws — love  to  God  and  loving  service  to  man;  men 
by  instinct  and  habit  pure,  earnest,  humane,  and  just,  apostles  of 
"sweetness  and  light/'    It  is  the  mission  of  the  college,  through  her 
graduates,   to   save   and   exalt  the  home,   to   make  honesty,    sound 
finance,  and  reciprocal  advantage  the  accepted  maxims  of  business, 
and  disinterested  helpfulness  the  common  law  of  society.  YjTfc  is  the        V 
worthy  aim  of  the  technical  and  the  professional  school  to  prepare     f 
men  to  get  a  living.     It  is  the  distinctive  aim  of  the  college  to  teach   v 
men  to  live,  to  insure  the*  dominance  of  the  soul.  /  f 

Equally  definite  is  the  duty  of  the  college  "to  prepare  men  for 
public  life.  The  founders  of  the  first  college  in  America  gave  as 
the  warrant  for  the  undertaking  "the  furnishing  of  the  common- 
wealth with  leaders  and  the  churches  with  a  learned  and  godly  min- 
istry." The  founders  of  Yale,  also,  proclaimed  the  distinct  purpose 
of  educating  men  "for  the  public  service."  Almost  without  excep- 
tion the  colleges  of  our  country,  whether  founded  by  state  appropria- 
tions or  private  benevolence,  originated  in  the  purpose  to  insure  to 
the  people  competent  and  patriotic  leaders  equal  to  all  exigencies. 
Service  to  country  is  part  of  the  implied  contract  between  the  stu- 
dent and  his  college  as  a  guardian  of  the  public  welfare.  Even  if  it 
"be  not  writ"  in  precise  terms,  as  at  Annapolis  and  West  Point,  it  is 
there  for  every  true  college  man  whenever  the  State  needs  his  service. 
If  there  is  a  growing  reluctance  among  college  men  to  go  to  the  front 
in  the  battles  for  civic  progress,  where  lies  the  responsibility?  In 
changed  curricula,  or  the  decline  of  early  ideals?  Or  in  both? 

In  our  day  the  public  service  is  infinitely  more  varied  than  even 


a  generation  ago.  The  Civic  League,  the  Associated  Charities,  the 
Church  Guilds  and  Christian  Associations,  the  University  Settle- 
ments, the  literary  clubs,  the  hundreds  of  organized  philanthropies 
and  reforms  are  so  many  opportunities  for  the  college  graduate,  so 
many  tests  of  his  loyalty.  Such  an  age  obviously  needs  the  college 
woman  quite  as  much  as  the  college  man. 

The  unique  aim  of  the  college  gives  it  a  field  peculiar  to  itself— 
"not  covered  by  the  technical  school,  not  serving  solely  as  preparatory 
to  the  professional  school,"  and  not  occupied  by  the  university.  The 
man  who  is  in  any  true  sense  to  be  an  active,  responsible  guardian  of 
the  welfare  of  the  community,  of  the  interests  of  his  state  and  coun- 
try, must  be  broadly  educated,  liberally  educated.  A  narrow  curricu- 
lum will  not  meet  his  need.  He  must  know  both  men  and  things. 
He  must  know  the  conditions  under  which  men  have  developed  on 
this  planet.  He  must  be  acquainted  with  that  action  of  forces,  phys  • 
ical,  biological,  psychic,  social,  political  and  ethical,  by  which  human 
beings  have  reacted  upon  their  environment  and  upon  one  another. 
It  were  well  could  he  know  the  beginnings  and  the  progress  of  civili- 
zation as  disclosed  by  archaeology,  history,  literature,  ancient  and 
modern,  the  arts  and  the  philosophies  of  all  schools  and  all  ages; 
could  he  trace  those  changes  in  governments,  laws,  customs,  indus- 
tries and  ideas  which  have  issued  in  the  modern  state  and  modern 
society.  He  should  at  least  thoroughly  understand  the  principles 
embodied  in  the  government  of  his  own  country  and  their  relation 
to  the  popular  movements  of  his  own  time.  He  should  be  acquaint- 
ed with  the  social  conditions  of  his  age  and  land  and  should  be  in- 
telligently interested  in  improving  them.  He  should  have  studied 
the  elements  of  political  economy  and  the  laws  that  govern  commerce 
and  industry.  He  should  know  the  general  results  of  modern  sci- 
ence, should  possess  its  spirit,  and  be  able  to  apply  its  distinctive 
methods  in  some  of  its  branches.  He  should  know  and  appreciate 
the  spiritual  forces  that  have  shaped  and  unified  the  life  and  the  in- 
stitutions of  his  country.  He  should  have  learned  his  own  powers 
and  aptitudes  and  found  the  appropriate  place  for  their  use.  He 
should  be  thoroughly  democratic,  a  man  among  men,  sincerely  rev- 
erent, true  to  duty  and  conscious  of  his  responsibility  to  God.  All 
this  he  should  be  if  he  is  amply  to  fill  his  place  as  a  college  man. 
r<T  Amid  the  ever-increasing  complication  of  the  social  mechanism, 
there  should  be  somebody  who  knows  the  relation  of  the  parts  and  the 
general  meaning  of  the  whole.  And  where  shall  we  look  for  him  if 
not  to  the  college  graduate? 

3e 


Does  the  outline  include  too  much?  Not  more  than  is  required 
by  the  ideal.  Some  men  can  attain  this.  All  can  strive  for  it. 
The  college  should  provide  the  requisite  courses  and  impart  the  high 
purpose.  In  an  age  of  extreme  and  increasing  specialization,  where 
every  man  tends  to  look  only  "upon  his  own  things,"  we  seek  eagerly 
for  the  guides  that  will  help  us  to  "look  also  upon  the  things  of 
others."  The  courses  of  study  and  the  influences  that  will  produce  N| 
such  guides  must  be  college  courses  and  college  influences.  They 
can  not  be  afforded  by  the  secondary  school.  Neither  can  the  second- 
ary school  meet  other  equally  exacting  conditions.  Its  resources 
are  meager.  It  is  too  often  thwarted  by  ignorance,  prejudice,  party 
discords,  political  ambitions  and  social  jealousies.  Its  students  rep- 
resent limited  interests,  the  local  types  of  character  and  talent,  the 
maxims,  customs,  and  habits  of  the  vicinity.  Its  entire  horizon  is 
narrow.  In  the  average  college  all  these  conditions  are  reversed. 
The  college  represents,  at  least  the  state,  often  many  states,  some- 
times the  country.  It  has  that  continuity  of  administration,  in- 
struction and  social  life  that  make  traditions  possible,  that  develop 
reverence,  awaken  aspiration  and  impart  the  feeling  of  brotherhood. 
The  true  college  has  the  spirit  of  universal  learning,  the  breadth  of 
humanity,  the  vital  instincts  of  Christendom.  Nor  can  the  technical  i 
school  take  the  place  of  the  college.  Its  aim,  worthy  as  it  may  be,  I 
in  itself,  is  narrow — to  make  men  efficient  in  a  particular  art  or  in- 
dustry. The  well  directed  technical  school  will  soften  its  coldly 
practical  tendencies  by  the  introduction  of  culture  studies.  But  it 
must  still  aim  to  make  engineers,  not  men.  So  with  the  professional 
school.  It  ministers  to  a  calling — only  secondarily  to  humanity.  Nor 
can  the  college  be  merged  in  the  university  proper.  The  two  may 
be  united,  but  the  union  will  be  mechanical,  not  vital.  The  univer- 
sity has  its  own  aim — research,  the  extension  of  the  bounds  of  knowl- 
edge— a  noble  aim,  but  reserved  for  the  few  and  requiring  methods 
unsuited  to  the  college.  But  while  the  college  in  our  country  has 
its  own  paramount  place,  it  sustains  living  relations  to  all  our  other 
educational  forces.  It  furnishes  teachers-to  the  elementary  and  the 
secondary  schools,  and  students  to  the  universities  and  professional 
schools.  It  gives  breadth  to  men  of  all  arts  and  all  callings.  V  It  en- 
nobles research,  imparting  to  merely  mechanical  results  a  spiritual 
significance.  It  unites  the  community  in  a  devotion  to  the  higher 
ends  of  life  and  so  supplies  the  soil  and  the  atmosphere  in  which 
alone  knowledge  can  flourish  and  the  arts  multiply. 

37 


Shall  we  not  say  with  Milton,  "I  call  that  a  liberal  education 
which  prepares  a  man  to  perform  skilfully,  justly  and  magnanimously 
all  the  offices  of  life,  public  and  private";  with  Lowell,  speaking 
of  Harvard,  "Let  her  aim  to  give  a  good  all-round  education 
fitted  to  cope  with  as  many  exigencies  of  the  day  as  possible.  Let  her 
continue  to  give  such  a  training  as  will  fit  the  rich  to  be  trusted  with 
riches  and  the  poor  to  withstand  the  temptations  of  poverty." 

THE  CHAIRMAN  : 

We  shall  now  have  the  first  address  in  the  discussion,  by  Presi- 
dent William  F.  King,  of  Cornell  College. 
PRESIDENT  KING  : 

Mr.  Chairman,  and  Fellow  Teachers :  After  the  valuable  papers 
which  we  have  been  permitted  to  hear  this  morning,  which  have  so 
accurately  and  thoroughly  treated  the  subject,  I  think  there  is  little 
need  for  extemporary  remarks. 

I  was  wonderfully  pleased  with  the  definition  given  by  President 
Bowling,  of  Creighton  University,  which  he  quoted  from  Bishop 
Spalding.  I  thought  the  quotation  illustrated  beautifully  the  high 
culture  and  capabilities  of  that  prelate.  He  gave  us  an  admirable 
summary  of  the  merits  and  field  of  the  college.  If  we  will  accept 
the  truth  in  that  and  the  truth  in  the  other  papers  that  we  have 
heard,  there  is  but  little  left  in  the  way  of  a  question  as  to  whether 
there  is  a  field  for  the  college.  I  think  it  is  fair  to  say  that  there 
is  no  other  appliance  or  institution  that  has  ever  been  invented  for 
making  men  and  women,  that  equals  the  college.  We  have  tried 
many  things  that  were  supposed  to  be  better,  but  I  think  it  still 
remains  true  that  with  all  the  improvements  of  modern  days  we  have 
not  discovered  anything  equal  to  the  straight  college  for  making 
men  and  women.  If  this  be  true  is  there  much  left  of  this  topic? 
It  is  true  that  the  college  does  a  good  deal  for  the  technical  schools  in 
preparing  students  for  them,  and  for  the  university  and  professional 
schools  in  preparing  students  for  them,  but  over  and  above  these  two 
valuable  services  it  does  a  far  larger  and  better  service  for  society  at 
large.  I  believe  that  if  time  permitted  to  refer  to  statistics — I  speak 
only  from  a  general  impression  of  the  subject — that  we  would  find  that 
a  comparatively  small  per  cent  of  college  graduates  go  in  either  of 
these  two  directions,  and  that  a  much  larger  per  cent  go  in  other 
fruitful  vocations  in  life. 

There  is  another  side  to  the  college  problem  that  I  think  it  is 
well  for  us  to  think  of,  and  that  is  that  the  college  leads  us,  as  no 


other  institution  does,  to  those  higher  and  nobler  things  that  are  un- 
purchasable.  In  this  day  of  commercialism  where  there  is  so  much 
selfishness,  we  are  almost  led  to  think  that  money  will  buy  anything, 
but  the  college  furnishes  to  its  students  a  class  of  qualities  and  per- 
haps of  positions  that  can  not  be  purchased.  Culture  can  not  be 
purchased  by  money,  scholarship  can  not  be  purchased,  character  can 
not  be  purchased,  adaptability  to  the  duties  and  work  of  life  can  not 
be  purchased. 

The  college  has  another  factor  that  is  of  value  that  has  not  been 
mentioned  in  the  papers,  and  that  is  that  it  comes  close  to  the  people. 
The  other  schools  named  are  few  and  located  largely  at  the  centers 
of  population,  but  the  college  goes  out  to  the  rural  districts  and 
comes  close  to  the  people,  showing  the  youth  what  is  desirable  and 
what  is  to  them  practicable  and  possible,  and  so  scores  and  hundreds 
of  our  young  people  secure  a  college  education  by  the  college  being 
comparatively  near  to  them,  that  would  never  think  of  it  if  the 
college  were  farther  away.  » 

The  college  was  spoken  of  by  one  of  the  speakers  as  a  republic. 
I  will  venture  to  add  that  it  is  a  republic  of  wide  representation.  It 
gathers  into  its  constituency  representatives  of  all  vocations  and  all 
schools  of  thought  and  of  all  modes  of  life.  And  they  are  there  on  a 
common  plane,  with  no  distinction  except  of  merit,  to  give  and  re- 
ceive from  each  other  all  that  is  possible  from  that  community  life, 
and  they  go  out  into  all  the  vocations  of  life  to  spread  good  influences 
wherever  they  may  go.  And  it  is  about  as  important  for  the  pro- 
fessional man  to  come  in  contact  with  the  college  man  in  his  profes- 
sional work  as  it  is  for  him  to  be  prepared  for  his  work  himself.  Take 
the  matter  of  a  minister ;  the  pastor  of  any  church  has  a  benediction 
in  his  congregation  if  he  has  one  or  more — and  the  more  the  better — 
of  college  men  and  women  to  second  his  efforts  in  all  that  he  is  at- 
tempting to  do  for  the  community,  and  so  it  is  in  all  the  profes- 
sions. 

Hj  think  it  is  also  one  of  the  virtues  of  the  college  over  other 
educational  institutions  that  it  tends  to  postpone  the  choice  of  a  life 
vocation.  It  is  very  possible  that  many  in  my  presence,  especially 
those  who  are  interested  in  technical  and  scientific  education,  may 
take  exception  to  this  statement,  but  I  think  it  is  true;  nevertheless. 
I  think  it  is  an  advantage  to  most  young  men  and  women  that  they 
postpone  to  a  reasonable  period  of  maturity  the  choice  of  their  life 
vocation.  There  is  not  nearly  the  danger  of  making  a  mistake  in  re- 


gard  to  the  choice  of  the  life  vocation  when  it  is  made  a  little  later 
in  life  and  after  the  student  has  more  fully  developed  his  faculties 
and  more  perfectly  learned  his  own  tastes  and  capabilities.  And  we 
all  know  the  misfortune  of  so  many  mistakes  of  wrong  choice  in 
earlier  days,  so  that  when  a  student  comes  to  me  early  in  his  college 
course  and  expresses  regret  that  he  is  not  inclined  to  go  on  with  his 
work  because  he  has  not  determined  what  his  life  vocation  is  to  be, 
I  congratulate  that  student  and  tell  him  that  I  think  he  is  on  the 
right  track.  I  tell  him  to  go  on,  and  before  he  gets  through,  or  by 
the  time  he  is  through  college  he  will  be  much  better  prepared  to 
determine  questions  of  that  kind  than  he  is  today.  I  do  not  say 
that  this  is  a  universal  rule ;  I  think  there  are  persons  of  such  genius 
and  such  bent  of  mind  as  that  the  decision  of  life's  vocation  comes 
much  earlier  and  properly  so;  I  merely  speak  of  the  average  of  men 
and  women  in  our  schools  and  colleges. 

Now,  I  think  that  I  will  not  venture  to  extemporize  more  upon 
this  subject,  thougji  it  is  one  that  lies  very  close  to  my  heart,  but  will 
leave  with  you  the  sentiment  that  is  carved  over  the  gateway  of  one 
of  our  leading  educational  institutions  which  I  think  is  suggestive. 
The  inscription  is  this:  pSo  enter,  that  daily  thou  mayest  become 
more  thoughtful  and  more' learned ;  so  depart,  that  daily  thou  may- 
est become  more  useful  to  thy  country  and  to  mankind."  Useful- 
ness to  our  country  and  to  mankind  and  especially  in  work  for  the 
Master  are  the  great  objects  of  college  education. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

We  shall  now  have  a  ten  minutes'  discussion  from  President 
Thomas  McClelland,  of  Knox  College. 

PRESIDENT  MCCLELLAND: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Friends :  If  the  ground  had  been  thoroughly 
covered  before  President  King  addressed  us,  what  shall  we  say  of 
it  now  after  his  admirable  discussion  of  the  question  before  us? 

When  the  President  of  Northwestern  did  me  the  honor  to  ask 
me  to  present  a  paper  before  this  gathering  I  felt  that  I  must  de- 
cline because  of  special  pressure  of  business  just  then,  but  this  sub- 
ject is  one  which  interests  us  at  Knox  greatly  and  you  might  as 
well  know  what  we  are  saying  about  it  to  our  students  down  there, 
even  though  it  must  be  presented  in  a  very  informal  fashion. 

Two  directly  opposite  decisions  with  reference  to  the  value  of 
a  college  education  on  the  part  of  two  young  men  recently  came 
to  my  notice.  One  of  them,  a  cashier  in  a  bank  in  an  Illinois 

40 


town,  wrote  me  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  entering  his  busi- 
ness career  before  taking  a  thorough  general  education.  He  asked 
my  advice  in  regard  to  giving  up  his  position  and  entering  even  yet 
upon  a  college  course.  The  other,  an  under-classman,  has  reached 
the  conclusion  that  there  is  not  time  for  him  to  take  a  college  course, 
and  so  he  proposes  to  enter  at  once  upon  his  professional  studies. 
I  shall  not  undertake  to  say  which  of  these  young  men  was  right. 
In  these  specific  instances  both  may  be  right. 

But  I  am  interested  in  the  general  question  of  a  liberal  educa- 
tion as  a  prerequisite  of  the  technical  and  professional  education  which 
is  intended  to  fit  only  for  a  specific  vocation.  Much  has  been  written 
and  said  on  this  subject  recently,  and  among  the  medley  of  voices 
speaking  on  the  question  I  think  we  may  now  detect  some  constant 
notes  which  give  evidence  that  we  are  gradually  reaching  a  con- 
sensus of  opinion  in  regard  to  some  of  its  important  features.  For 
one  thing,  it  seems  to  be  quite  generally  recognized  that  the  commer- 
cial spirit  of  the  age  has  had  entirely  too  much  to  do  with  shaping 
the  courses  of  study  in  our  institutions.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  when  we  consider  the  opportunities  for  making  money.  It  is 
but  natural  that  young  people  should  choose  the  shorter  courses 
which  are  popularly  supposed  to  fit  most  readily  for  the  "current 
market."  It  is  a  good  thing,  however,  that  the  universities  which 
have  gone  farthest  in  yielding  to  this  pressure  are  the  first  to 
call  a  halt.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  some  of  our  leading  uni- 
versities have  already  appointed  committees  to  overhaul  their  courses 
with  the  purpose  of  correcting  the  evils  of  the  excessive  elective  sys- 
tem, a  movement,  I  take  it,  in  the  interests  of  that  liberal  education 
for  which  we  have  been  contending  this  morning.  Indeed,  it  is  a 
matter  of  congratulation  and  encouragement  that  the  strongest  plea 
for  liberal  culture  is  coming  from  university  men  today.  Some  of 
them  go  so  far  as  to  urge  that  the  undergraduate  work  be  taken 
in  the  separate  college  where  the  development  of  the  man  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  subject  upon  which  he  may  be  working  is  the 
central  idea,  rather  than  in  the  college  connected  with  the  univer- 
sity, where  the  university  idea  is  more  likely  to  predominate.  In 
addition  to  this  I  might  cite  the  testimony  of  many  prominent  busi- 
ness men,  who  have  had  large  observation  and  experience,  in  favor 
of  the  liberal  education.  I  have  it  from  the  general  superintendent 
of  one  of  the  great  railroads  running  out  of  this  city  that  he  has  no 
difficulty  in  finding  men  thoroughly  equipped  for  positions  which 
call  only  for  the  technical  skill  needed  to  accomplish  specific  tasks, 

41 

f  OF  THE 

C    UNIVERSITY 


I  but  when  he  is  seeking  for  a  man  to  meet  emergencies  on  the  moment, 
for  a  man  who  has  the  power  of  initiative,  for  the  man  who  can  direct 
other  men,  for  the  man  who  can  grasp  large  questions  and  settle 
them,  in  short  for  the  man  of  general  executive  ability,  then  he  has 
difficulty.  It  is  almost  impossible,  he  says,  to  find  the  men  for  these 
positions.  Some  of  you  will  remember  that  Dr.  Harris  in  discuss- 
ing the  value  of  a  college  education  for  the  teacher  in  our  common 
schools  at  one  of  our  National  Educational  Associations  stated  that 
he  had  discovered  that  the  normal  school  man  without  the  college 
training  usually  surpasses  the  college  man  without  the  normal  school 
training  for  the  first  two  or  three  years,  but  about  the  end  of  that 
time  he  reaches  his  limitations  and  the  college  man  forges  ahead 
of  him.  Now  Dr.  Harris  can  not  be  taken  as  at  all  hostile  to  the 
normal  school  education.  He  would  favor  it  as  heartily  as  you  and 
I  favor  it.  But  he  believes,  in  order  to  make  the  teacher  as  effective 
and  as  successful  in  practice  as  he  ought  to  be,  that  he  should  have 
iiot  only  the  technical  training  of  the  normal  school,  but  the  broad 
foundation  of  a  liberal  education  as  well.  The  story  is  told  that  a 
pupil  of  Michael  Angelo,  upon  returning  to  his  study  one  day. 
found  that  the  great  master  had  written  across  the  canvas  the  word 
"Amplius"  This  illustrates  our  point.  Amplitude  of  intellect  was 
never  more  needed  than  today.  Young  people  sometimes  flatter 
themselves  that  if  they  enter  upon  their  specific  vocation  without 
this  general  training  it  may  be  secured  afterward,  but  the  chances 
are  it  never  will  be.  In  his  particular  business  each  man  gets  daily 
training  toward  perfecticji_in..}iis  line  of  work,  but  if  the  foundation 
^Tlncomplele  it  will  be  hard,  if  not  impossible,  to  remedy  the  defect. 
Why  have  the  railroads  of  the  country  been  spending  such  vast 
sums  of  money  on  their  roadbeds,  within  the  last  decade?  Simply 
because  the  old  roadbed  of  a  few  years  ago  could  not  have  borne 
for  a  single  day  the  strain  of  the  present  day  traffic.  Improved  roll- 
ing stock,  all  that  goes  under  the  name  of  equipment,  would  have 
been  useless  if  the  roadbed,  the  road  itself,  had  not  been  strengthened 
and  perfected.  So  it  is  with  the  traffic  of  life.  It  bears  more 
heavily  on  men  than  ever  and  it  is  increasing  as  the  years  go  on. 
There  is  need  of  specific  training,  but  without  that  strong  manhood 
which  comes  from  broad  culture  and  character  the  strain  will  not 
be  successfully  borne. 

There  never  was  so  great  a  demand  for  men  as  today,  but  the 
Call  is  not  because  of  any  numerical  lack.  It  is  for  men  of  quality. 
As  President  Roosevelt  said  recently:  "The  greatest  need  of  the 

42 


nation  is  educated  men  prepared  to  enter  into  the  activities  of  their 
fellows  with  a  ground  work  of  plain  common  sense  and  the  heroism 
of  aggressive  warfare  for  right.  We  want  scholars  and  shall  take 
pride  in  their  achievements,,  but  more  than  anything  else  we  want 
educated  men  of  character  in  politics  and  business,  and  above  all  in 
civic  life."  The  President  rightly  thinks  that  for  the  most  part  we 
must  look  to  the  college  to  meet  this  need.  But  the  college  itself , 
whatever  its  facilities  today,  can  not  give  us  the  men  unless  there 
is  the  right  spirit  among  the  students  in  training  there.  I  have  no 
disposition  to  depreciate  what  we  have  been  calling  the  "new  edu- 
cation"; on  the  whole  it  is  a  great  advance  over  the  old,  but  I  have 
some  doubts  as  to  some  of  its  tendencies.  The  seductive  aphorism, 
"Follow  the  line  of  least  resistance,"  which  has  been  so  much  in 
vogue  is  responsible  for  much  mischief,  and  it  has  in  it  yet  elements 
of  danger.  Tf  the  old  idea  that  the  chief  business  of  education  is 
to  strengthen  the  student  at  his  weakest  points  is  a  rule  too  ascetic, 
"it  is,"  as  Dean  Briggs  has  said,  "preferable  to  the  emasculate  ex- 
treme of  doing  only  what  one  likes  to  do."  This  easy  going  rule 
which  allows  the  student  to  follow  his  wishes  rather  than  his  wants, 
has  had  its  evil  effect  on  the  student  mind  and  we  are  not  surprised 
that  the  Dean  of  Harvard  finds  that  "the  tendency  of  the  student 
today  is  to  come  to  the  professor,  practically  with  a  bill  of  rights 
in  his  hands  saying,  'Mind,  you  must  not  be  dull  or  I  shall  go  to 
sleep,  you  must  attract  me  or  I  shall  not  get  on  an  inch;  you  must 
rivet  my  attention  or  my  thoughts  will  wander/"  This  sort  of 
inanity  deserves  the  contemptuous  retort,  "Well,  then,  if  that  is 
your  mood,  go  to  sleep;  don't  get  on  an  inch;  let  your  thoughts 
wander."  And  we  may  well  assume  an  attitude  of  rebuff  toward  the 
half  weakly,  half  vicious  tone  of  too  many  young  people  who  are 
saying  to  the  church,  the  school,  the  college  or  their  parents,  "If 
you  expect  us  to  be  virtuous  or  heroic  or  accomplished  you  must 
bestir  yourselves;  we  should  like  to  gratify  you  but  there  must  be 
nothing  dry,  nothing  hard,  nothing  ascetic.  It  is  the  duty  of  the 
minister  or  the  professor  to  waft  us  to  heaven  or  Parnassus  on  gentle 
zephyrs.  Otherwise  we  may  let  them  endure  the  pain  of  seeing 
us  conclude  to  go  to  some  other  place."  Just  this  kind  of  thing 
offers  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  in  favor  of  the  influence  and 
training  involved  in  the  liberal  culture  for  which  the  college  stands. 
Without  following  this  question  further  I  want  to  say  just  in  a 
word  that  I  believe  college  men  have  come  to  the  point  where  they 
can  afford  to  hold  up  their  heads  and  stand  squarely  on  their  feet. 

48 


We  have  had  too  much  disposition  to  apologize  for  what  has  been 
called  the  "small  college."  It  has  its  place,  a  place  of  importance, 
and  it  is  making  itself  felt  today,  more  than  ever  before. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

We  shall  now  have  the  last  formal  paper  of  the  morning  by  Kev. 
J.  H.  Thomas,  late  President  of  Oxford  College. 

EEV.  THOMAS: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Fellow  Workers  in  College:  The  first  ques- 
tion on  our  program  is,  Has  the  college  a  field  peculiar  to  itself? 
On  this  I  take  the  affirmative  and  assert  that  the  college  is  a  chief 
instrument  of  our  moral  and  social  progress. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  are  the  college-bred  people  of 
the  world;  or,  if  this  seem  an  overstatement,  certainly  the  college- 
led  people.  This  is  a  matter  of  fact  capable  of  proof;  but  I  will 
only  suggest  lines  of  evidence.  The  number  of  our  college  students 
in  proportion  to  our  population  is  greater  than  university  students 
in  Germany,  far  greater  than  in  any  other  country;  though  varying 
standards  make  the  comparison  inexact.  The  increase  in  the  attend- 
ance upon  our  colleges  in  the  last  decade  was  of  men  sixty  per  cent, 
of  women  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  per  cent.  College  graduates 
are  in  the  majority  among  the  real  leaders  of  our  nation.  They 
are  gaining  rapidly  on  non-graduates  in  Medicine  and  the  Law. 
Most  ministers  are  college-bred  and  teachers  in  the  higher  places, 
as  are  a  growing  number  of  the  men  most  influential  in  commerce. 

A  generation  ago  the  appointment  of  Everett  and  Lowell  and 
Motley  as  ambassadors  to  foreign  courts  encountered  criticism.  But 
college  men  have  so  often  reflected  honor  on  our  country's  diplo- 
matic service  that  today  their  appointment  is  welcomed.  Their  knowl- 
edge is  indispensable  for  the  development  of  our  soil  and  its  prod- 
\  ucts.  Their  service  as  experts  is  often  necessary  in  the  growing 
W  complexity  of  state  affairs,  as  in  the  Venezuela  boundary  case.  And 
their  trained  discrimination  and  impartial  judgment  is  valued,  as 
in  the  arbitration  of  the  coal  strike. 

The  earliest  colonists  in  their  poverty  founded  colleges,  and 
their  sons  planted  them  everywhere  as  they  followed  the  star  of  em- 
pire westward.  No  state  is  without  a  college;  they  average  eleven 
to  a  state,  and  wealth  is  now  poured  out  for  their  endowment.  The 
excellence  of  our  public  school  system  is  due  to  college-trained  men 
determined  that  free  tuition  even  in  state  universities  should  open 
the  door  of  opportunity  to  the  poorest.  And  this  opportunity  brings 

44 


into  the  public  service  many  of  our  ablest  men  after  university  train- 
ing.    The  college  is  as  necessary  to  our  system  of  education  as  t]&- 
heart  to  the  arterial  system.     It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  de-1 
velopment  of  our  whole  national  life  has  been  under  college  influence.  1 

Light  will  be  thrown  on  the  functions  of  a  college  as  we  stucly 
the  reasons  for  its  unique  influence  in  the  history  of  our  people.  The 
sword  has  conferred  power  upon  rulers  in  former  ages.  In  our 
country,  education,  character  and  ability  have  commonly  won  the 
votes  that  have  elevated  men  to  power.  With  us  the  pen  is  mightier 
than  the  &\yord. 

The  religious  inheritance  of  our  people  has  fostered  education. 
Luther,  Calvin,  Milton,  Wesley,  all  university  men,  impressed  on 
their  followers  the  value  of  trained  leaders.  The  churches  that  grew 
out  of  their  teaching  have  been  moulded  by  such  influence,  and  the 
Catholic  church  in  our  country  earnestly  promotes  education.  The 
very  diversity  of  religious  views  has  multiplied  colleges;  and  hav- 
ing been  founded  through  religious  motives,  they  have  made  it 
their  first  duty  to  impress  deeply  the  obligation  of  Christian  ethics. 
The  idealism  which  so  dominates  in  our  moral  and  social  progress 
is  born  in  colleges.  It  compels  war  upon  unrighteousness;  it  pauses 
not  in  the  pursuit  of  evil;  it  is  not  dismayed  in  the  face  of  appar- 
ently impossible  tasks;  David,  the  stripling  with  his  sling,  it  reckons 
mightier  than  Goliath,  the  giant,  in  armor. 

The  quickened  national  conscience  which  demands  justice  even 
in  China,  which  is  first  to  welcome  Japan  into  the  brotherhood  of 
nations,  which  forbids  liquor  to  be  sold  in  the  South  Seas,  is  a 
religious  development  in  which  the  colleges  lead  the  churches.  Public 
opinion,  the  final  arbiter  in  our  land,  is  very  largely  moulded  by  men 
trained  in  our  universities. 

The  college  develops  character;  it  takes  the  youth  when  he  has 
grown  wiser  than  his  father  and  mother  (in  his  own  judgment),  too 
big  for  his  teachers,  in  the  critical  years  of  transition  from  boyhood 
to  manhood,  and  supplies  or  supplements  home  influence.  Every- 
body knows  the  self-conscious  collegian.  The  new  alma  mater  wins 
his  respect  and  compels  his  obedience.  How  often,  alas!  young 
lives  are  wrecked  in  spite  of  her,  and  yet  how  often,  also,  happy 
impress  is  made  to  abide  for  time  and  for  eternity.  The  influence 
of  the  college  in  this  way  is  incalculable.  The  long  and  influential 
career  of  the  late  James  Martineau  was  dominated,  as  he  said  at  the 
close  of  it,  by  an  impulse  received  from  a  teacher  when  he  first  left 
home.  The  bent  which  determines  a  career  is  apt  to  be  given  at 
college.  45 


Applcton's  Cyclopaedia  of  Biography  is  a  Hall  of  Fame,  a  sort 
of  American  Valhalla.  But  President  Thwing  has  shown  that  for 
admission  to  it  the  college-trained  man  has  two  hundred  and  fifty 
times  the  chance  of  the  man  who  lacks  the  college  training.  The 
conclusion  is  forced  on  us  that  the  college  from  the  first  has  been 
intertwined  about  the  very  fibers  of  our  national  life;  and  as  a 
line  of  Christian  effort  has  been  a  factor  above  all  others  in  mould- 
ing national  character. 

Now  such  spiritual  quickening  is  needed  more  and  more  as  the 
complexity  of  social  and  moral  problems  in  the  United  States  in- 
creases and  their  urgency  grows  more  imperative.  Our  free  insti- 
tutions are  imperiled  by  the  horde  of  alien  immigrants  flowing  upon 
us  like  a  swelling  tide.  How  shall  the  peril  be  averted?  The  most 
effective  maans  is  through  their  children  in  our  public  schools.  But 
the  college  is  the  power-house  from  which  electric  influence  extends 
through  all  the  educational  circuit.  .  The  necessity  of  such  uplifting 
power  in  our  civilization  demands  that  the  fountains  whence  its 
life-giving  streams  arise  be  kept  free  and  pure. 

But  has  the  college  a  field  peculiar  to  itself,  not  covered  by  the 
technical  school  and  not  serving  solely  as  preparatory  to  the  profes- 
sional school?  I  answer  that  the  college  makes  the  man;  technical 
and  professional  schools  put  tools  in  his  hands.  They  are  not  sub- 
stitutes for  the  college,  but  build  upon  it.  The  college  existed  alone 
long  before  them,  and  the  school  for  specialists  can  never  do  the  work 
of  the  college.  A  minority  of  students  attend  them,  a  small  minor- 
ity considering  the  number  of  women  now  attending  college.  If 
the  whole  is  greater  than  any  of  its  parts,  the  need  of  all  is  more  im- 
portant than  the  need  of  a  minority. 

To  ignore  women  in  college  plans  is  to  shut  the  eyes  to  facts. 
Not  only  because  college  women  may  soon  outnumber  college  men, 
but  because  of  their  influence  upon  ethical,  esthetical  and  spiritual 
questions.  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  restriction  of  women  to  Kinder,  Kilche 
und  Kirche  is  like  the  pope's  bull  against  a  comet.  Even  if  women 
keep  within  the  Emperor's  paddock,  their  influence  upon  the  next 
generation  in  childhood  requires  for  them  as  thorough  training  as 
possible.  But  women  will  attend  college,  be  it  co-educational  or 
segregational.  Their  influence,  greatly  enlarged  now,  will  be  yet 
greater.  More  than  ever  women  need  strength  of  mind  to  refuse 
specious  but  misleading  projects;  sound  judgment  to  discriminate 
between  true  and  pretended  progress ;  wisdom  to  guide  their  tender- 
ness of  heart  reaching  out  a  helping  hand  to  the  needy. 

46 


What,  then,  is  the  ideal  college  for  which  we  should  strive? 
The  aim  of  education  is  a  rounded  culture  for  soul,  mind  and  body ; 
an  enlightened  conscience,  a  disciplined  mind,  a  trained  discernment. 
The  student  must  have  all  his  powers  at  command  and  be  able  him- 
self to  direct  his  further  study.  To  this  end  all  branches  necessary 
to  give  the  various  kinds  of  mental  culture  must  be  required,  Mathe- 
matics, Language,  Physics,  Metaphysics  and  Ethics,  with  such  elec- 
tive work  as  the  student  may  choose.  The  course  of  study  must  be 
long  enough  to  accomplish  this,  and  not  too  long  for  the  needs,  the 
time  and  the  money  of  the  average  candidate  for  higher  education. 

The  student  is  living  in  the  twentieth  century,  not  the  tenth. 
Fields  of  knowledge  and  enterprise  have  broadened  immensely.  And 
though  the  end  of  education  is  discipline  rather  than  knowledge, 
yet  the  course  of  study  requires  readjustment  from  time  to  time. 
Milton's  scheme  of  education  in  the  seventeenth  century  Would  be 
absurd  for  today.  Contrast  the  catalogue  of  a  modern  university 
with  it,  or  even  with  a  catalogue  of  fifty  years  ago,  and  the  change  is 
astonishing.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  knowledge  of  today  were  un- 
known only  half  a  century  ago.  The  student  can  no  longer  be  satis- 
fied with  physiology;  the  field  of  biology  must,  at  least,  be  opened 
to  him.  The  old  metaphysics  must  still  be  taught,  but  so.  also,  must 
the  new  psychology;  and  so  on  through  a  wonderful  range  of  modern 
research. 

It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  college  entrance  requirements  have 
been  advanced  two  years  in  half  a  century,  and  four  years  in  college 
would  not  seem  too  much,  now,  if  Music  or  Art  is  to  be  mastered 
during  the  college  course,  as  must  be  done  by  many.  President  Eliot 
would  have  this  added  time  saved  by  more  economy  through  wiser 
planning  of  studies  and  more  effective  teaching  in  primary  and  sec- 
ondary schools,  "a  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished,"  a  worthy 
aim  for  school  directors.  But  it  can  not  be  reckoned  on  at  present 
in  planning  college  courses. 

Freedom  is  necessary  for  the  wise  development  of  college  ideals. 
The  last  half  century  has  witnessed  a  great  enlargement  of  curricula. 
The  wise  exercise  of  freedom  must  be  used  in  the  future  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  growing  diversity  of  modern  life.  Colleges  must  re- 
quire what  is  necessary  to  maintain  their  old-time  influence  in  all  its 
wholesome  effects.  To  lose  this  factor  in  our  future  development  as 
a  people  would  be  a  blow  at  progress.  Combination  courses  may  be 
needful  for  students  proposing  advanced  study  in  special  lines.  But 


47 


such  courses  ought  not  to  let  down  the  bars  for  all.  A  degree 
granted  for  less  work  than  is  required  by  the  usual  four  years'  course 
will  tend  to  this. 

The  practical  question  is,  how  to  maintain  the  standard  of  a 
sufficient  training  for  the  needs  of  today  against  the  pressure  to  reach 
the  goal  by  a  short  cut.  To  do  this  the  bachelor's  degree  will  help 
greatly  if  given  only  to  those  who  have  mastered  the  standard  course 
with  requisite  thoroughness.  This  help  has  been  nearly  lost  by  the 
unspeakable  confusion  that  exists  in  granting  degrees.  Not  only  are 
some  degrees  obtained  without  study,  but  the  standard  varies  greatly 
in  colleges.  Some  have  lowered  it  through  money-making  motives; 
some  by  ambition  to  show  a  large  attendance.  A  degree  has  no 
standard  value,  but  depends  on  the  reputation  of  the  college  granting 
it. 

If  reputable  colleges  offer  a  degree  for  two  or  three  years  of 
work,  others  will  make  a  like  offer.  The  degree  will  mean  even  less 
than  it  now  does.  Ought  not  the  strong  help  the  weak  in  the  inter- 
est of  higher  education  ?  Civil  authority  is  properly  invoked  to  pun- 
ish fraud  in  granting  degrees.  Whether  its  aid  should  be  sought  to 
uphold  a  standard  in  colleges  has  been  debated.  But  among  them 
surely  self-government  ought  to  attain  the  desirable  end.  If  such  a 
conference  as  this  can  agree,  it  will  have  more  influence  than  civil 
statutes.  To  fix  such  entrance  requirements  as  the  National  Educa- 
tional Association  recommends  and  a  four  years'  course  to  obtain  the 
bachelor's  degree,  might  establish  the  standard.  It  certainly  would 
if  this  conference  met  annually  to  recognize  colleges  that  conform  to 
such  a  standard  as  is  the  rule  of  many  state  associations.  Would  it  not 
be  well  to  form  a  permanent  organization  at  this  meeting  for  confer- 
ence on  this  and  other  points  of  common  interest? 

PROFESSOR  K.  Gr.  KIMBLE,  OF  LOMBARD  COLLEGE: 

Mr.  Chairman:  There  is  one  point  in  the  discussion  to  which 
we  have  listened  here  this  morning,  with  so  much  pleasure  and 
profit,  to  which  I  would  call  special  attention.  It  has  been  repeated- 
ly urged  before  us  that  among  all  our  educational  institutions  the 
college  is  preeminently  that  one  which  lays  emphasis  upon  culture, 
upon  character,  upon  manhood,  upon  the  all-round  development  of 
the  individual.  This  contention  is  profoundly  just;  it  is  one  which 
rests  upon  facts  of  great  significance.  Permit  me  briefly  to  set  them 
forth.  In  the  process  of  education,  as  the  term  is  ordinarily  used, 
there  are  to  be  found  three  special,  complementary,  phases  or  part 

48 


processes.  For  want  of  a  better  terminology  I  shall  call  these  instruc- 
tion, education  [in  the  primitive  or  root  meaning  of  the  word]  and  spe- 
cialization. These  are  all  present  at  every  stage  of  the  general  process 
of  education,  but  they  do  not  always  bear  the  same  ratio  to  each  other 
relative  to  the  part  played  by  each  in  making  up  the  whole.  At  one 
stage  instruction  will  be  the  dominant  process ;  at  another,  education 
and  at  another,  specialization.  The  existence  of  these  part-pro- 
cesses is  due,  like  that  of  the  general  process  and  of  the  temporary 
dominance  of  one  over  the  others,  not  to  accident  nor  to  caprice,  but 
to  the  essential  characteristics  of  the  development  of  the  average  in- 
dividual. This  fact  is  very  significant  and  should  not  be  forgotten. 
Now,  in  this  development  there  comes  a  time  when  in  the  homo- 
geneity of  the  young  mind  the  rudiments  of  that  structure  which  is 
to  give  shape  and  direction  to  all  its  future  growth  begin  to  appear. 
This  attempt  of  the  mind  to  gain  a  framework  for  itself,  to  deter- 
mine the  lines  of  direction  along  which  its  energies  are  in  future 
to  be  exerted,  must  be  met  by  the  instructor  with  a  treatment  calcu- 
lated to  make  the  attempt  successful.  The  young  mind  should  here 
come  in  contact  with  the  great,  common-place,  fundamentals  of 
knowledge  about  which  all  agree  so  completely  and  so  implicitly  that 
we  usually  forget  they  ever  have  been  matters  of  knowledge  at  all. 
This  is  the  period  when  the  process  of  instruction  is  dominant.  It  is 
the  period  roughly  covered  by  our  schools  up  to,  and  largely  includ- 
ing, the  high  school.  It  is  the  period  during  which  the  individual 
is  being  informed  with  the  ripest  results  of  the  everyday  experience 
of  the  human  race  to  the  end  that  his  further  development  may  be 
guarded  from  the  perils  of  too  great  eccentricity  and  that  society 
may  not  find  in  its  midst  a  person  too  unlike  others  to  live  with 
them.  Presently,  when  the  mind  has  in  this  manner  gotten  its  orien- 
tation in  the  field  of  human  experience,  there  arises  in  the  individual 
a  restlessness,  a  chafing  under  bonds,  a  persistent  and  passionate 
longing  to  exert  and  assert  the  self  in  all  its  powers.  This  is  the 
natural  response  to  all  that  has  gone  before.  It  is  the  stirring  of  the 
soul  in  its  desire  to  go  forth  to  meet  the  beneficent  necessity  of  show- 
ing forth,  displaying,  the  individual  nature  in  order  that  both  it  and 
its  fellows  and  the  world  of  things  and  events  may  see  what  manner 
of  creature  it  is  and  may  accord  it  that  place  which  is  its  natural 
due.  This  is  the  period  of  "education,"  of  leading  out;  the  period  of 
voyaging  into  unknown  seas,  of  making  new  and  strange  friends,  of 
gaining  fresh  and  multiplied  points  of  contact  with  the  world.  This 

40 


is  the  educator's  psychological  moment.  If  he  be  wise  and  efficient 
he  will  see  to  it  well  that  the  strenuous  young  mind  now  has  oppor- 
tunity to  measure  and  test  itself  upon  many  and  diversified  fields  tak- 
ing care  that  the  total  result  of  it  all  shall  be  the  educing,  the  lay- 
ing bare,  the  developing  of  all  the  powers  and  capacities  of  the  indi- 
vidual; he  will  see  to  it  that  here  takes  place  that  harmonious  and 
all-round  development  which  is  the  indispensable  basis  of  the  highest 
type  of  culture,  character,  personality  and  efficiency.  It  is  the  work 
of  the  college  to  care  for  the  individual  during  this  stage  of  his 
growth.  This  is  its  historic,  its  necessary,  function  and  in  this  it 
differs  radically  from  both  high  school  and  university,  competing 
with  neither,  complementing  both.  For  this  it  is  set  apart.  For 
this  it  will  endure.  I  will  not  go  on  to  state  to  you  why  it  is  that 
the  next  thing  in  order  is  that  process  by  which  the  individual  is 
trained  and  fitted  for  the  performance  of  the  particular  work  in  life 
for  which  this  education  has  shown  him  to  be  most  adaptable.  This 
is  that  phase  of  the  general  process  of  education  which  I  have  called 
specialization,  and  of  it  the  university,  the  technical  institute  and 
the  professional  school  have  charge.  It  is  the  college  which  interests 
us  at  this  moment  in  this  assembly,  and  to  it  I  must  confine  myself. 
And  upon  the  basis  of  what  I  have  outlined  I  would  have  you  note 
concerning  the  college  the  following  points:  First,  the  educative, 
cultural,  character-founding  function  for  which  it  stands  is  rooted 
in  the  deep  necessities  of  human  development.  It  is  no  impertinent 
interloper,  no  useless  adornment,  no  outgrown  appendage.  It  can- 
not be  given  up.  The  very  power  so  to  do  could  only  be  derived  from 
the  thing  it  would  be  used  to  destroy.  The  second  point  is  this :  if 
this  function  is  so  important  and  cannot  be  allowed  to  go  unper- 
formed, some  institution  or  institutions  must  see  to  it  that  it  is  al- 
ways performed  and  that,  too,  with  increasing  efficiency.  The  third 
point  is  yet  more  obvious :  whatever  institution  performs  this  func- 
tion will  do  the  work  which  the  real  college  is  now  doing,  and  will, 
therefore,  be  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  real  college.  Thus  the 
existence  of  the  college  as  an  institution  is  not  a  matter  of  question. 
There  is  one  further  point,  the  fourth,  and  then  I  have  done.  The 
question  has  arisen  as  to  whether  the  college  is  to  exist  as  an  inde- 
pendent, separate,  distinct,  institution  or  coalesce  with  the  high  school, 
the  university  and  the  professional  school.  To  this  question  I  would 
return  a  most  emphatic  reply.  The  function  for  which  the  college 
stands  is  a  distinct  function  having  its  own  characteristics  belonging 

50 


especially  to  it.  Now  for  the  performance  of  such  functions  there 
is  invariably  developed  a  distinct  and  important  structure,  an  insti- 
tution in  this  case,  and  a  distinct  and  important  institution  always 
becomes  as  separate  and  independent  as  it  is  allowable  for  institu- 
tions to  become.  The  very  spirit  and  atmosphere,  the  purpose  and 
method,  of  the  secondary  school,  the  college,  and  the  university  re- 
spectively, are  of  such  a  nature  and  are  so  related  to  each  other  that 
these  institutions  must  be  isolated  from  each  other  in  time,  place, 
organization,  equipment  and  interest  of  both  teacher  and  pupil  if 
each  institution  is  to  do  best  the  work  which  most  needs  its  doing. 
These  facts  are  almost  self-evident;  their  logic  is  invincible;  the 
conclusions  to  which  they  point  are  inevitable;  the  tendencies  behind 
them  are  irresistible;  therefore  the  college  will  have  a  distinct,  inde- 
pendent and  separate  existence.  We  may  sum  up  the  whole  matter 
of  the  college  and  other  educational  institutions  by  saying  that  it  is 
by  cooperation  and  organization,  not  by  competition  and  assimila- 
tion, however  "benevolent,"  that  the  proper  relations  to  each  other 
of  the  school,  the  college  and  the  university  are  most  happily  and 
effectively  to  be  promoted  and  conserved.  I  thank  you  for  your  at- 
tention. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  : 

We  shall  now  be  favored  with  a  brief  address  by  Hon.  Arthur 
L.  Bates,  representative  of  Allegheny  College,  and  who  represents 
his  district  in  Congress. 
CONGRESSMAN  BATES: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  had  supposed  that  this  concluded  the  exer- 
cises of  the  morning;  I  will  not  talk  all  the  time  that  remains. 
The  fact  that  I  did  desire  to  say  a  word  earlier  in  the  morning  is 
due  to  the  supposition  that  a  discussion  was  to  be  precipitated  upon 
this  very  august  body.  I  think  now,  however,  it  would  be  in  order 
for  President  James  to  send  for  the  most  powerful  microscope  in  his 
institution  and  make  diligent  search  for  some  argument  on  the  other 
side  of  this  proposition  which  has  been  stated  in  the  bill  of  fare 
for  this  morning. 

I  came  here  of  the  same  opinion  of  the  gentlemen  who  have 
addressed  this  meeting.  I  am  like  the  old  judge  who  told  the  young 
practitioner:  "There  is  no  use  of  making  an  argument,  Mr.  A.,  the 
Court  is  with  you/'  But  Mr.  A.  went  on  and  elaborated  his  posi- 
tion, only  to  be  interrupted  at  last  by  the  remark,  "In  spite  of  your 
argument,  the  Court  is  still  with  you."  I  am  in  that  position  now. 

61 


In  spite  of  the  learned  and  eloquent  arguments  brought  forth  I  am 
still  with  you. 

What  do  the  technical  schools  want?  What  do  they  desire? 
Their  position  has  not  been  stated.  I  do  not  know  why.  The  idea 
is  represented  in  this  gathering  that  the  American  college  has  not 
a  field  peculiar  to  itself  and  distinct  in  itself  that  is  not  covered  by 
the  technical  school.  Do  the  graduates  of  the  technical  schools  de- 
sire to  be  classed  among  the  learned  professions?  The  old-fashioned 
phrase  "learned  professions"  applies  to  the  Law,  the  Ministry  and  to 
Medicine.  Why  are  these  three  called  the  learned  professions?  Be- 
cause by  the  rules  of  the  law  schools  and  the  medical  schools  and 
the  theological  schools,  and,  as  has  been  stated  here  this  morning, 
because  in  some  cases  by  statutes  of  commonwealths,  a  liberal  edu- 
cation precedes  the  inception  of  the  technical  training.  Hence,  they 
are  rightly  denominated  the  learned  professions.  Does  the  civil  en- 
gineer, does  the  mechanical  engineer,  does  the  electrical  engineer,  do 
those  in  the  mechanical  walks  of  life — do  they  desire  to  be  classed 
in  that  denomination?  A  case  of  this  sort  came  to  me  the  other 
day.  I  received  official  notice  from  Washington  that  during  June 
an  examination  would  be  held  for  the  choosing  of  twelve  civil  engi- 
neers for  tne  Naval  Department  of  this  government,  and  those  who 
passed  a  proper  examination  for  civil  engineer  would  receive  a  com- 
pensation to  start  with  of  $2,700.  Those  who  passed  the  examina- 
tion for  assistant  would  receive  from  $1,800  to  $2,000,  and  all  would 
enter  the  regular  service,  and  it  would  be  practically  a  life  position 
and  with  advancing  pay  and  emoluments.  I  thought  of  the  son  of 
a  friend  of  mine  who  had  graduated  at  a  Pennsylvania  college  in 
what  was  called  the  Civil  Engineering  department.  It  was  one  of 
those  elective  courses.  He  had  been  doing  some  work  for  one  of 
the  railroads  in  the  position  of  assistant  civil  engineer,  and  I  thought 
this  woulcl  afford  him  an  excellent  opportunity  for  bettering  his 
position.  He  was  very  eager  in  the  matter  until  he  saw  that  the 
requirements  of  this  examination  were  not  more  than  half  covered 
by  the  elective  course  he  had  pursued  in  the  college.  He  had  failed 
in  both  respects.  He  had  not  followed  a  liberal  course  of  education ; 
he  had  only  half  taken  the  technical  training  necessary  to  fully  de- 
velop him  to  take  an  examination  to  become  a  civil  engineer  in  the 
navy  department  of  his  country.  It  showed  me  the  proof  positive, 
which  comes  to  anyone  who  has  looked  into  the  question,  that  elec- 
tives  should  be  elected  by  the  competent  minds  of  those  fitted  to 
judge,  and  not  by  the  immature  minds  of  those  who  apply.  I  be- 

52 


lieve,  Mr.  Chairman  and  Friends,  that  the  elective  courses  ought 
to  be — not  eliminated,  possibly — but  regulated  in  some  way  by  ma- 
ture minds.  If  the  young  man  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  is  to  decide 
what  course  he  is  to  take,  why  should  he  not  decide  who  is  to  be 
president  of  the  college  and  who  shall  be  his  professor  or  teacher? 
If  he  is  competent  to  decide  one,  he  is  competent  to  decide  the  other. 
I  have  often  rejoiced  that  my  father  kept  me  from  going  into  some 
technical  course  in  college  when  I  was  sixteen.  I  know  young  men 
whose  fathers  have  made  egregious  blunders  by  allowing  their  sons 
to  go  unrestrained  because  the  boys  thought  they  knew  what  they 
wanted  to  do.  They  wanted  a  short  cut  and  they  went  into  the 
so-called  technical  training  when  they  ought  to  have  been  prepar- 
ing their  minds  as  the  farmer  would  prepare  a  field  by  plowing 
deep,  taking  out  the  rocks  and  stumps,  and  then  putting  in  the 
marker  and  deciding  where  he  would  plant  this  crop  and  that  crop. 

I  believe  the  American  college  stands  for  development  and 
mental  growth  and  acumen  and  that  no  technical  school  and  no  tech- 
nical training  can  ever  take  the  place  of  the  liberal  course  of  instruc- 
tion afforded  the  youth  of  today  in  the  American  college  that  gives 
us  the  wealth  of  letters,  and  gives  us  the  association  with  the  ages 
of  the  past;  that  enables  us  to  walk  with  Horace  in  the  garden, 
to  go  with  Cicero  to  the  Capitol,  and  to  converse — yes,  converse — 
with  the  best  minds  of  the  world,  and  to  be  on  familiar  terms  with 
the  sayings  and  the  truths  that  have  been  uttered  all  along  down 
the  ages. 

There  is  another  side  to  this  question  which  I  am  sure  is  not 
represented  here.  There  is  the  swing  of  the  pendulum  first  one 
way  and  then  the  other.  The  return  swing  is  beginning.  Money- 
making  is  the  curse  of  the  American  people  today  and  there  are 
in  our  American  colleges  some  professors  who  would  eliminate  all 
that  does  not  lead  immediately  to  practical  results.  They  would  give 
technical  and  scientific  training  to  a  sixteen  years'  old  boy.  These 
beliefs  exist,  but  I  think  are  not  represented  here.  They  are  being 
projected  and  believed  by  some  of  the  American  people  and  I  con- 
gratulate you,  gentlemen,  on  the  staid  and  firm,  and — if  you  please 
to  call  them — "old  fogy"  ideas  that  I  believe  are  right.  I  believe 
in  still  employing  the  conservative  method  for  the  uplifting,  the 
moral  and  intellectual  uplifting,  of  the  American  people  to  the  high 
plane  which  I  believe  we  are  nearing  from  day  to  day  and  year  to 
year.  The  American  college  is  one  of  the  grandest  institutions  in  the 
world  and  I  hope  it  will  not  be  assailed  by  utilitarian  ideas. 

53 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

Is  there  anybody  who  will  take  up  that  other  side?  If  not  we 
can  hear  more  of  the  first. 

DR.  FRANCES  DICKINSON,  OF  HARVEY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  should  like  to  ask  this  question:  Can  the 
standard  of  the  schools  be  kept  up  without  the  protection  of  the  law? 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :     Is  there  any  answer  to  this  inquiry  ? 

Dn  DICKINSON  :  The  integrity  of  the  medical  education  is  pro- 
tected by  law;  I  wonder  if  the  standard  of  other  professional  courses 
and  other  literary  degrees  would  be  strengthened  if  they  had  the 
same  legal  protection,  or  does  freedom  of  adjustment  make  better 
standards  ? 

PRESIDENT  FISHER,  OF  HANOVER  COLLEGE: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  want  first  to  express  my  gratification  that 
since  the  newspapers  for  a  year  or  two  have  been  full  of  the  other 
side  of  this  question,  now  we  have  an  opportunity  to  say  something 
on  this  side  of  it ;  and  I  hope  that  the  newspapers  will  publish  enough 
to  show  the  attitude  of  this  body. 

I  want  also  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  everything 
that  is  involved  in  the  entire  list  of  questions  submitted  is  involved 
in  this  first  inquiry.  There  is  nothing  of  much  importance  outside 
of  it. 

The  first  question  which  I  wish  to  raise  is,  whence  does  the  desire 
come  for  such  a  departure  as  is  thus  indicated?  We  say  that  the 
College  has  a  field  peculiar  to  itself.  This  is  just  what  in  some 
quarters  seems  to  be  denied.  But  who  is  it  that  raises  the  doubt? 
In  the  first  place  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  it  is  not  the  profes- 
sional schools.  For  instance,  the  Medical  Convention,  which  has 
just  been  in  session  in  New  Orleans,  expressly  declares  in  favor 
of  a  full  college  course  for  medical  students.  I  am  sure  that  it 
does  not  come  from  any  good  Law  School.  It  is  perfectly  evident 
to  this  body  that  it  is  not  from  the  majority  of  the  Colleges.  It 
limits  itself  either  to  the  great  outside  world,  or  to  a  few  large  col- 
leges that  for  some  reason  have  fallen  in  with  this  notion. 

Still,  I  suppose  that  a  question  of  this  sort  could  not  arise 
unless  there  were  something  in  it.  When  many  people  advocate  a 
thing,  as  a  rule  there  must  be  something  in  it,  or  supposed  to  be  in 
it,  else  they  would  not  take  up  with  it.  Mr.  Crane,  speaking  for 
the  great  outside  world,  says  that  a  course  in  college  whether  long 

54 


or  short  is  of  no  use.  No  use  for  what?  Perhaps  not  to  fit  a  man 
to  go  into  a  manufactory  or  a  store.  But  a  course  in  college  is 
usually  for  some  other  purpose.  Does  it  fit  him  for  higher  work  ?  It 
certainly  does,  and  four  years  are  none  too  much  time  for  this. 

Now,  as  to  the  institutions  from  which  this  desire  comes.  It 
is  from  a  very  small  number  of  very  large  institutions.  Why? 
Pardon  me  for  saying  it,  I  have  been  a  college  president  for  twenty- 
five  years,  and  while  my  college  is  a  "small"  one  it  has  given  me 
an  opportunity  to  see  things.  The  first  thing  some  of  these  large 
institutions  attempted  was  to  push  up  the  standard  for  entrance; 
and  the  smaller  colleges  managed  to  keep  in  sight  of  them.  The 
higher  standard  of  entrance  used  to  be  the  cry.  My  own  judgment 
is  that  they  built  their  chimneys  so  high  that  now  they  want  to 
lower  them. 

But  let  us  look  at  the  merits  of  this  proposal  as  it  affects  the 
colleges  themselves.  No  one  wants  the  course  cut  short  for  all  stu- 
dents. Everyone  here  knows  what  would  be  the  effect  of  that  on 
the  colleges.  One  fellow  gets  out  in  two  or  three  years  because  he 
is  going  to  a  professional  school,  and  another  is  expected  to  stay 
four.  How  many  will  stay  four?  Not  one  in  twenty.  You  simply 
are  abolishing  one  or  two  years  of  the  course — on  this  plan. 

On  the  other  hand,  what  will  be  the  effect  on  the  professional 
schools?  Every  medical  or  law  school  would  thus  be  saying  that 
somewhere  you  can  without  harm  take  one  or  two  years  out  of  your 
preparation  for  your  life  work;  just  what  every  good  one  among 
them  insists  must  not  be  done. 

In  fact,  who  wants  it?  In  these  western  colleges  a  great  many 
who  enter  do  not  go  farther  than  the  Sophomore  or  Junior  year; 
some  because  they  fail,  but  more  for  other  reasons.  Why  not  allow 
them  to  continue  to  do  this,  and  not  graduate?  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  thing  sought  by  this  handful  of  large  institutions  is,  instead 
of  this,  to  be  able  to  give  these  men  a  degree.  That  is  all  there  is 
in  it.  These  are  some  of  the  things  that  were  in  my  mind. 

PROFESSOR  FLETCHER  B.  DRESSLAR,  OF  CALIFORNIA  UNIVERSITY  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  would  like  to  ask  you  a  question.  Represent- 
ing a  theological  school  as  you  do,  do  you  call  it  a  technical  school  ? 

THE  CHAIRMAN:     Yes. 

PROF.  DRESSLAR:  Do  you  teach  the  history  of  the  Hebrew 
people  ? 

THE  CHAIRMAN:     Yes,  sir. 

55 


PROF.  DRESSLAR:  Do  you  think  it  would  be  educational  to 
any  young  man  or  young  woman  to  learn  carefully  the  history  of 
the  Hebrew  people? 

THE  CHAIRMAN:    Yes. 

PROF.  DRESSLAR  :  Might  it  not,  then,  be  done  in  college  as  well 
as  in  the  technical  school? 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :     I  would  say,  no. 

PROF.  DRESSLAR:  Provided  the  man  in  the  technical  school 
knew  more  about  it  than  the  man  in  the  college.  Other  things 
equal,  might  it  not  be  taught  just  as  well  then  in  the  college  and 
just  as  much  culture  come  from  it  as  if  taught  in  a  technical  school  ? 
My  question  leads  to  this:  Are  there  not  subjects  that  are  of  vital 
importance  both  to  technical  work  and  to  manhood  and  scholarship 
and  character?  If  so,  can  we  not  use  them  to  help  our  young 
people  to  serve  themselves  and  the  state  and  the  world  better  by 
making  the  combination  ? 

We  have  no  theological  work  in  the  University  of  California, 
but  we  have  taught  there  the  history  of  the  Hebrew  people.  And  I 
say  to  you,  other  things  being  equal,  it  is  just  as  helpful  to  them 
as  to  study  the  history  of  the  Egyptian  people.  Now,  isn't  it  pos- 
sible that  there  is  a  middle  ground,  instead  of  saying  that  you  are 
on  one  side  or  else  you  have  got  to  be  on  the  other?  Is  it  not 
possible?  It  seems  to  me  here  is  a  place  for  us  to  consider.  The 
college  does  not  have  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth, 
possibly.  Neither  does  the  university  have  the  whole  truth  and 
nothing  but  the  truth,  possibly.  But  can  not  they  each  help  the 
other?  Certainly  there  is  no  better  place  to  become  strong  and 
helpful  than  the  college,  and  when  my  boy  gets  big  enough  to  go 
to  college  I  want  to  put  him  in  a  college  rather  than  a  great  uni- 
versity, though  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  the  University  of 
California  with  its  four  thousand  students.  This  question  does  not 
mean  that  the  colleges  are  to  fight  the  university  as  such.  This  is 
the  question  with  our  institutions:  That  we  have  here  many  kinds 
of  institutions  and  the  institution  that  can  work  out  the  best  thing 
will  get  the  reward  and  will  get  the  honor,  and  that  institution 
that  lags  behind,  whether  it  be  a  college  or  a  university,  will  be  the 
hindmost  one — and  you  know  what  happens  to  the  hindmost  one. 
We  do  not  want  in  this  country  of  ours  a  systematic  line  of  educa- 
tional work.  We  want  something  looking  as  near  to  right  methods 
as  we  can  have.  Out  of  this  we  get  a  better,  richer.,  nobler  life. 

58 


Likewise  there  is  a  field  for  the  university  that  tries  to  find  things 

that  will  help  both  ways. 

PRESIDENT  BOWLING,  OF  CEEIGHTON  UNIVERSITY: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  must  confess  to  a  feeling  of  disappointment. 
We  were  expected  to  take  up  some  live  and  practical  discussion.  But 
from  the  unanimity  developed  it  would  seem  that  we  have  been 
threshing  old  straw.  I  do  not  believe  that  such  is  the  state  of  the 
case;  there  are  many  who  hold  different  opinions  from  ours  on  this 
question.  There  is  no  such  unanimity  as  appears.  After  this  meet- 
ing we  will  have  to  meet  the  questions  and  objections  of  those  who 
believe  that  the  college  has  no  particular  place  of  its  own.  It  seems 
to  me  that  we  ought  to  give  voice  in  some  way  that  will  be  under- 
stood of  the  faith  that  is  in  us  in  regard  to  the  function  of  the  col- 
lege. It  may  be  that  a  noisy  minority  is  making  a  great  deal  of 
fuss  about  this  question;  but  since  we  all  seem  to  be  of  one  mind 
we  ought  to  be  able  to  reach  a  definite  result  and  formulate  it.  I 
have  come  five  hundred  miles  just  simply  to  attend  this  conference 
because  I  hoped  we  would  be  able  to  get  some  practical  results.  I 
felt  that  there  was  a  necessity  for  rearranging  the  college  course  and 
for  escaping  chaos.  If  there  is  such  a  thing  as  co-ordinate  effort 
and  any  possibility  of  agreeing  on  any  line  of  action,  we  ought  to 
get  together.  Now,  how  would  it  be  if  at  the  end  of  each  of  these 
questions  we  take  a  vote  so  as  to  express  our  preferences?  This  vote 
would  not  bind  anybody — we  are  not  here  in  a  position  to  bind 
our  respective  institutions.  Certainly,  that  action  would  have  a  great 
deal  of  moral  force.  It  does  not  seem  that  we  can  accomplish  much 
without  a  vote.  Suppose  that  the  Secretary  should  call  the  names 
of  the  delegates  and  ask,  "What  does  such  and  such  a  college  vote?" 
If  any  one  does  not  wish  to  answer  he  does  not  need  to  do  so.  It 
will  show  those  that  stand  together  who  are  with  them  and  they  will 
have  the  strength  of  greater  unanimity  in  the  ideas  they  hold.  I 
would  suggest  that  we  try  to  get  some  practical  results  by  seeing 
how  many  stand  for  or  against  these  various  propositions.  I  do 
not  want  to  put  this  in  the  way  of  a  motion  unless  the  Chairman 
thinks  it  desirable. 
A  DELEGATE: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  believe  that  the  positions  of  the  various  in- 
stitutions can  not  be  expressed  by  Yes  or  No.  Inasmuch  as  the  dis- 
cussion will  be  continued  this  afternoon,  I  move  we  adjourn. 

Motion  seconded. 

Adjourned. 

57 


FRIDAY,   MAY   8,   1903,   2  :00  P.    M. 

PRESIDENT  BOWLING,  OF  CREIGHTON  UNIVERSITY,  IN  THE  CHAIR. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  question  to  be  discussed  this  afternoon  is,  Is  it  desirable 
that  the  college  course  should  be  reduced  in  time  from  four  to  three 
or  even  two  years,  and  correspondingly  in  amount  of  work?  The 
first  paper  will  be  presented  by  President  George  E.  Merrill,  of  Col- 
gate University. 

PRESIDENT  MERRILL: 

I  cannot  say  what  I  wish  to  say  upon  this  question  without  first 
putting  myself  on  record  as  opposed  to  the  shortening  of  the  four 
years'  course.  The  reasons  which  I  shall  urge  for  devising  a  new 
course  for  a  three  years'  term  of  student  life,  if  it  should  be  neces- 
sary  to  adopt  that  shorter  period,  are  in  some  degree  the  same  rea- 
sons  I  would  urge  for  keeping  the  longer  term. 

I  am  averse  to  a  shortening  of  the  four  year  course  because,  in 
my  judgment,  the  college  should  educate,  not  only  its  students,  but 
the  public  at  large,  in  the  truth  that  the  hurry  and  bustle  of  the 
age,  perilous  in  many  ways,  is  fatal  to  the  best  development  of  man- 
hood and  to  the  preservation  of  the  best  social  life.  I  would  almost 
be  willing  to  say  that  this  reason  alone  is  enough  for  the  four  year 
course.  The  college  should  be  the  strongest  conservative  force  in 
America  to  preserve  the  quiet  and  repose  which  alone  are  favorable 
to  culture — the  quiet  and  repose  which  are  themselves  a  part  of 
culture.  It  is  a  distinct  misfortune  if  our  youth  are  forced  to 
yield  to  the  pressure  of  life  before  they  fairly  have  entered  life. 
I  would  not  plead  one  moment  for  idleness.  I  would  not  foster 
feebleness  of  effort  or  purpose.  I  do  not  think  our  undergraduates 
now  are  in  very  much  danger  of  overwork,  and  I  would  not  give 
them  more  latitude  than  they  have.  But  if  so  much  time  as  they 
now  have  can  be  kept  intact  for  the  consideration  of  many  subjects 
of  intellectual  culture ;  if  they  can  retain  the  privileges  of  ample  and 
unhurried  liberal  study,  before  they  are  thrown  into  conditions,  either 
in  the  professional  school  or  in  the  outside  world,  in  which  they 
must  surrender  their  freedom  to  the  bonds  of  the  life-pursuit,  their 
term  of  education  will  be  of  much  higher  value  than  under  condi- 
tions of  greater  pressure.  It  is  evident  enough  that  the  technical 

58 


and  the  professional  schools  must  put  their  students  to  the  distinct 
work  which  is  to  occupy  their  attention  for  life,  and  practically  the 
lawyer  is  a  lawyer,  the  physician  a  physician,  the  minister  a  min- 
ister when  he  begins  his  work  in  the  professional  school.  And  it  is 
well  that  in  the  shortest  practicable  time  the  professional  student 
should  pass  from  the  stage  of  preparation  to  practice.  But  the  col- 
lege has  other  ends  in  view.  It  defeats  its  own  purpose  if  it  gives 
over  a  part  of  its  course  to  technical  studies,  or  cuts  off  its  own 
time  for  the  sake  of  technical  studies  that  are  to  follow.  The  col- 
lege must  have  the  large,  unhurried  opportunity,  or  it  very  largely 
ceases  to  be  a  college.  It  is  doing  its  part  in  preparing  manhood 
and  making  citizens,  who  in  any  profession,  or  in  no  profession,  in 
society,  in  citizenship,  shall  have  the  trained  mind,  the  disciplined 
judgment  which  shall  make  them  capable  of  leadership  in  general 
affairs.  Other  agencies  join  hands  with  the  college  in  this  broad 
work,  but  no  one  of  them  can  do  the  work  of  the  college.  And  for 
this  purpose  it  would  be  more  logical  to  extend  rather  than  curtail 
the  time  in  the  college.  It  is  the  American  vice  to  reduce  life  to 
activities.  It  is  the  part  of  the  college  to  foster  thought.  It  is  a 
misfortune  if  the  fostering  of  thought,  the  liberalizing  of  the  mind, 
must  give  place  to  the  intense  strain  of  specializing  at  an  early  time 
in  the  life  of  the  student.  To  those  who  would  ask:  "What  shall 
we  do,  in  an  age  replete,  as  no  other  has  been,  with  subjects  of 
knowledge — what  shall  we  do  for  the  best  interests  of  education?"  it 
is  a  strange  answer  to  give :  "Cut  down  the  time  \"  When  the  col- 
lege is  richest  in  its  intellectual  resources  shall  it  say  to  the  world, 
"This  opulence  is  of  no  account.  Refuse  to  use  it.  Decrease  op- 
portunity as  possibilities  increase."  It  seems  absurd  to  make  such 
answers.  Is  it  not  better  to  say  that  all  the  demands  of  the  future 
life  require  the  amplest  culture  of  the  mind  in  the  early  years?  Is 
it  not  better  to  open  these  four  years  to  the  widest  possibilities  and 
make  sure  that  ample  time  is  given  to  the  general  culture  which  they 
may  offer?  The  hurry  will  begin  soon  enough.  The  pressure  will 
grip  the  mind  very  early.  After  graduation  there  will  no  longer 
be  any,  or  but  little  freedom,  and  the  one  special  subject  will  hold 
the  student  to  itself  with  ever  growing  power.  It  seems  to  me  that  { 
it  is  wise  to  demand  of  the  college  that  conservatism  which  shall  • 
protect  the  higher  education  from  the  vicious  American  habit  of 
hurry  and  pressure,  and  secure  for  the  time  when  such  intense  activ-  i 
ity  is  inevitable  the  stability  and  power  that  are  the  natural  prod- 
ucts of  calm,  prolonged  preparation. 

50 


Moreover,  a  true  college  method  demands  much  time.  I  grant 
you  that  if  you  are  to  employ  university  methods  in  college  instruc- 
tion, perhaps  some  of  the  time  would  better  be  cut  off.  If  you  are 
going  to  carry  the  lecture  method,  and  the  approval  of  published 
notes  in  cramming  for  examinations,  and  the  rating  by  examination 
only,  into  the  comparatively  irresponsible  but  the  more  plastic  years 
of  training,  your  college  will  suffer  less  from  diminution  of  time. 
But  if  you  are  to  bring  each  student  into  the  class-room  for  daily 
contact  with  his  teacher  and  for  the  expression  of  his  own  powers, 
the  divulging  of  his  own  condition  of  mind  at  frequent  intervals; 
if  you  are  going  to  note  his  daily  diligence;  show  him  thoroughness 
of  method  in  acquisition;  train  his  intellectual  powers  for  frequent 
yet  safe  transition  from  one  subject  to  another;  if  you  are  going 
to  complete  for  him  the  solid  foundations  of  knowledge  before  you 
give  him  over  to  the  special  and  intense  application  to  one  subject; 
if  you  wish  to  make  him  a  citizen  of  all  ages  and  countries  in  his  sym- 
pathies, and  if  you  are  to  humanize  him  by  personally  conducting 
him  in  contact  with  your  own  mind  and  soul  through  all  the  human 
interests  represented  in  the  college — then  you  need  at  least  our  present 
allotment  of  time.  College  method  must  have  generous  opportunity. 

But  if  compression  of  time  must  come,  shall  the  attempt  be  made 
to  crowd  the  work  of  four  years  into  three  ?  Or  shall  a  new  course  be 
prepared  for  the  shorter  time  ?  I  think  there  can  be  very  little  doubt 
that  compression  of  time  will  come.  The  very  calling  of  this  con- 
vention will  emphasize  the  demand,  even  if  it  should  fail  to  make  a 
definite  recommendation  to  that  end.  The  cry  for  an  earlier  beginning 
of  bread-winning,  especially  on  the  part  of  professional  men;  the 
somewhat  unequal  comparisons  between  the  German  and  French  educa- 
tional systems  and  our  own;  and  even  such  remarkable  deductions  as 
the  President  of  Harvard  College  draws  from  his  array  of  the  vital 
statistics  of  Harvard  graduates; — with  many  other  arguments,  con- 
centrate their  force  upon  the  shortening  of  the  college  course.  Indeed 
we  have  to  face  not  only  argument  but  actual  fact  in  the  present  con- 
ditions in  many  colleges.  A  three  years'  course  is  in  practical  opera- 
tion, under  varying  conditions,  at  Harvard,  Amherst,  Dartmouth, 
Bowdoin,  Tufts,  Clark,  Columbian  and  other  colleges.  In  many  of 
these  colleges,  however,  it  is  hardly  fair  to  call  the  course  a  three  years' 
course,  for  the  privilege  of  making  this  course  is  granted  only  to  men 
of  exceptional  standing,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  the  average  man. 
Harvard,  however,  has  now  come  squarely  to  the  reduction  for  all  men, 
who  wish  it,  and  two  or  three  of  the  schools  I  have  named  are  alto- 

60 


gether  upon  the  three-year  plan.  There  may  yet  be  many  sinuosities 
in  the  course  of  the  movement,  but  where  the  head  of  the  serpent  goes 
the  tail  is  very  likely  to  follow,  no  matter  with  what  wrigglings.  And 
we  are  asked  to  face  the  problem  of  the  shortened  course,  if  it  should 
become  general.  If  it  comes,  then  it  seems  to  me  that  a  new  scheme, 
both  as  to  the  subjects  and  quantity,  must  be  devised.  It  is  only  very 
brilliant  men  who  can  do  four  years'  work  in  three.  It  would  be 
wholly  impracticable  to  require  this  of  all  students.  And  even  if  it 
could  be  done,  it  would  be  far  from  desirable  for  exactly  the  same 
reasons  that  I  have  urged  for  the  retention  of  the  four  years'  course. 
The  quiet,  the  repose,  the  freedom  that  are  essential  to  culture  must 
be  maintained.  If  only  three  years  are  to  be  given  to  the  college,  they 
should  be  more  than  ever  guarded.  The  struggles  of  life  are  a  year 
nearer  to  the  student.  The  broad  view  is  the  sooner  to  be  lost  in  the 
specializing  of  the  profession.  More  precious  than  ever  is  opportunity. 
Make,  then,  a  course  that  will  be  adapted  to  the  time.  Offer  fewer 
subjects  (alas !  that  it  must  be  so) ;  diminish  the  freedom  of  elec- 
tion; discourage  all  premature  approaches  to  specializing;  but  with 
the  two  ideas  of  breadth  and  correlation  arrange  a  quantity  which 
shall  require  diligence,  indeed,  but  relieve  the  student  of  ceaseless 
toil.  Otherwise  the  experiment  of  the  three  years'  course  will  be 
fraught  with  peril.  Many  schools  have  tried  to  place  the  tasks  of 
manhood  on  the  shoulders  of  youth.  Men  of  college  age  ought  not 
to  work  as  the  world  has  a  right  to  expect  them  to  work  at  the  age  of 
thirty-five.  I  believe  that  any  attempt  to  crowd  our  present  amount 
of  work  into  narrower  limits  will  be  very  injurious  to  the  student ;  and 
it  will  be  fatal  to  the  true  spirit  of  a  broad  and  effective  culture. 

Of  course,  in  saying  this  I  would  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that 
changed  conditions  of  college  life  apart  from  the  curriculum  might 
make  it  possible  to  carry  practically  the  same  amount  of  work  now 
in  four  years.    The  interesting  experiment  of  the  Collegiate  Depart-  ! 
ment  of  Clark  University  is  now  making  in  this  direction.    If  students  \ 
will  forswear  fraternity  joys,  avoid  the  pleasures  of  social  life,  and   '= 
restrict  athletics  to  simple  hygienic  limits,  a  considerable  time  could 
be  taken  from  four  years  and  all  the  present  work  be  done.    I  can  not 
argue  here  the  question  whether  the  loss  to  college  life  and  its  genuine 
culture  would  be  greater  than  the  gain  by  such  a  curtailment  of  its 
social  and  sportive  activities;  but  I  venture  to  assert  that  the  loss 
would  be  so  considerable  as  to  make  the  change  in  any  of  the  older  col- 
leges practically  unwise.    But  it  is  not  only  because  the  life  of  the 
student  should  be  kept  measurably  free  and  open,  with  ample  chance 

61 


for  assimilation,  that  I  urge  a  carefully  arranged  special  course.  I 
can  not  see  how  the  present  range  and  number  of  subjects  can  be 
crowded  into  so  much  ]ess  space  without  the  intellectual  confusion 
both  of  instructor  and  pupil.  Even  now  there  is  an  evil  tendency  to 
bring  together  subjects  that  would  better  be  separated,  and  to  dissi- 
pate the  mind  by  an  election  of  too  many  subjects  in  the  given  time. 
Both  in  character  and  method,  therefore,  as  well  as  in  quantity,  the 
curriculum  should  be  greatly  changed.  Clark  College  has  wisely 
arranged  its  group  system  to  meet  these  ends.  And  it  is  fortunate  that 
we  already  have  enough  testimony  from  other  colleges,  where  com- 
pression of  four  years'  work  into  three  is  allowed  to  students  of  high 
standing,  to  the  end  that  very  few  men  will  attempt  the  task;  while 
in  some  cases,  as  Wellesley,  it  is  declared  "almost  a  physical  impos- 
sibility" for  it  to  be  done.  I  am  sure  that  the  same  thing  must  be  said 
of  the  College  with  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  connected. 

I  have  felt  the  embarrassment  all  through  this  paper,  that  the 
courtesy  due  to  other  announced  topics  has  limited  me  to  a  very  gen- 
eral discussion.  The  temptation  has  been  constant  to  pass  over  my 
bounds  into  the  details  of  the  question  of  the  relation  of  the  college 
to  the  professional  schools,  from  which  comes  almost  all  the  pressure 
for  a  shortening  of  the  college  course.  It  is  sufficiently  germane  to  my 
subject,  however,  to  suggest  that  so  far  as  a  shorter  course  is  demanded 
by  professional  interests  it  is  quite  possible  to  eliminate  at  least  a  year 
from  the  combined  periods  of  college  and  professional  school  without 
seriously  affecting  the  nature  or  the  time  of  the  college  course.  The 
State  of  New  York  through  the  Eegents  is  just  now  effecting  changes 
in  our  educational  law  by  which  a  certain  amount  of  science  subjects 
in  the  college  will  give  credit  for  the  whole  of  the  first  year  in  the 
medical  school.  No  violence  is  done  to  the  college  curriculum,  which 
has  long  included  a  very  large  portion,  if  not  the  whole,  of  these 
requirements  in  science,  while  for  many  years  the  first  year  of  the 
medical  school  has  been  a  mere  repetition  of  the  college  work.  The 
college  course  will  not  be  shortened  a  day ;  the  college  degree  will  not 
be  debased  in  value  a  particle ;  nor  the  liberal  character  of  the  college 
curriculum  be  diminished  by  the  change.  In  the  same  way  theological 
curricula  can  be  tied  together  by  certain  philosophical,  sociological, 
historical  and  linguistic  subjects,  as  we  are  proving  in  our  own 
University,  where  our  professional  school  is  theological ;  and  it  would 
be  strange  if  legal  acumen  could  not  discover  similar  arrangements  for 
the  schools  of  Law.  But  these  questions  are  to  be  fully  discussed  by 
others,  and  therefore  they  can  have  but  this  brief  mention  on  my  part. 

62 


In  conclusion  I  shall  reveal  a  secret  of  the  faculty  meetings  of 
Colgate  University.  I  am  not  sure,  indeed,  that  all  the  members  of 
our  faculty  are  themselves  aware  of  the  fact  of  which  I  speak.  As  I 
preside  in  the  faculty  room  I  notice  that  all  discussions  are  peaceful 
until  some  brother  refers  to  another  brother  as  "My  Colleague."  That 
is  a  storm  signal.  When  the  tenderness  of  the  relation  of  colleagues 
becomes  conspicuous,  trouble  is  brewing.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  the 
questions  now  before  this  conference  have  never  called  forth  the  term 
colleague  in  our  faculty  room.  To  us  the  questions  have  not  seemed 
so  insistent  as  to  many,  for  we  have  said,  even  as  I  have  now  said  in 
closing  this  paper :  "Go  to,  let  the  professional  school  cut  its  course  \" 
Yet,  if  the  cut  should  come  on  the  college,  while  we  should  be  sorry 
and  should  believe  it  to  be  on  the  whole  injurious  to  the  cultured  life 
of  the  country;  and  while  we  should  wholly  refuse  to  lead  off  in  the 
innovation ;  we  would  not  refuse  to  join  in  the  procession  but  be  proud 
to  bring  up  the  rear. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  discussion  will  be  taken  up  by  President  Webster  Merrifield, 
of  the  University  of  North  Dakota. 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD  : 

Mr.  Chairman ;  Fellow  Teachers :  I  have  no  prepared  paper  and 
I  have  no  prepared  speech.  I  am,  however,  going  to  use  a  few  minutes 
in  giving  you  the  result  of  our  experience  in  North  Dakota.  I  repre- 
sent, as  you  know,  a  pioneer  state,  a  state  in  which  the  conditions,  I 
have  no  doubt,  are  somewhat  unique.  I  am  sure  that  conditions  with 
us  are  somewhat  different  from  the  conditions  with  President  Merrill. 
Our  young  people  are  all  comparatively  poor.  I  venture  to  say  that 
nine-tenths  of  our  students  are  largely  self  supporting.  It  is  needless 
to  say,  therefore,  that  these  young  people  have  to  be  out  more  or  less, 
that  their  attendance  at  the  University  is  somewhat  irregular.  The 
result  has  been  with  us  that  the  young  people  would  start  in  to  take  a 
four  years'  course  and  find  themselves,  perhaps  at  the  beginning  of  the 
last  year,  with  several  terms  of  back  work  not  made  up.  They  would 
then  try  by  "stealing  bases"  and  by  "working"  the  faculty  to  get 
through,  and  though  the  faculty  would  resolve  at  the  beginning  of  the 
senior  year  that  certain  students  would  not  be  allowed  to  graduate  that 
year,  in  the  end  the  outcome  usually  was  that  the  students  would  throw 
themselves  with  a  few  short-comings  on  our  mercy  and  we  would  let 
them  through.  This  sort  of  thing  has  led  to  a  great  deal  of  good- 
natured  wrangling  in  our  faculty  meetings.  We  have  a  good  deal  of 

63 


the  "colleague"  business.  We  have  adopted  a  measure1  that  is  some- 
what of  a  compromise  in  the  hope  that  it  will  enable  these  young 
people  to  get  out  of  their  difficulties  without  calling  on  us  to  sacrifice 
our  consistency.  I  am  going  to  post  up  here  a  scheme2  which  pro- 
vides for  a  three  years'  course,  that  is  for  the  completion  of  the  four 
years'  course  in  three  years. 

I  ought  to  say  that  the  scheme  which  I  am  about  to  set  forth  is 
not  entirely  original  with  us,  although  I  think  we  have  the  credit  of 
working  it  out.  President  Hyde  of  Bowdoin  College,  in  a  magazine 
article  last  summer,  made  some  suggestions  which  we  have  worked  out 
in  detail.  The  scheme  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  conviction  on  our  part 
that  there  are  great  differences  in  human  capabilities.  I  believe  that 
some  young  people  are  capable  of  doing  twice  the  work  which  others 
are  able  to  do,  and  of  doing  it  quite  as  well.  I  am  sure  we  have  with 
us  young  people  who  carry  five  studies  with  greater  ease  than  others 
carry  three.  The  scheme  which  I  wish  to  elaborate  is  as  follows :  We 
divide  our  students  into  five  general  classes.  We  have  a  class  of 
students  which  we  call  "Pass,"  a  class  which  we  call  "Fair,"  a  class 
called  "Good,"  a  class  called  "Excellent,"  and,  combined  with  these 
classes,  but  as  no  necessary  part  of  the  plan,  we  have  what  we  call 
"Special  Honors."  With  us  a  unit  of  work  is  one  term's  work  in  a 
given  subject.  We  give  the  "Pass"  student  one  credit  for  that  work. 
In  the  course  of  the  year  we  give  him  twelve  credits.  The  "Pass" 
student  must  spend  the  full  four  years  to  earn  the  forty-eight  credits 
required  for  graduation.  To  a  student  classed  "Fair"  we  give  each 
term  one-tenth  of  a  credit  additional,  for  each  subject.  The  "Good" 
student  receives  for  each  unit  of  work  one  and  two-tenths  credits,  the 
"Excellent"  one  and  three-tenths,  and  if  a  student  take  honors  we 
give  two-tenths  additional  each  term  for  each  honor.  The  "Fair" 
student  for  four  courses  in  one  term  receives  four  and  four-tenths 
credits;  at  the  end  of  the  year,  thirteen  and  two-tenths;  and  at  the 
end  of  four  years  fifty-two  and  eight-tenths.  In  like  manner  the 
"Good"  student,  who  receives  one  and  two-tenths  credits  per  term  for 
each  course,  at  the  end  of  four  years  receives  fifty-seven  and  six-tenths 
credits,  or  in  three  years  forty-three  and  two-tenths.  The  "Excellent" 
student  in  the  same  way  receives  sixty-two  and  four-tenths  credits  in 
four  years,  or  forty-six  and  eight-tenths  in  three  years ;  and  if  he  take 
two  honors  he  receives  forty-eight  credits  and  graduates  in  three  years. 
We  believe  that  such  a  student  will  graduate  at  the  end  of  three  years 

1.  See  pages  68-70. 

2.  See  page  69. 

64 


with  quite  as  much  honor  to  his  class  and  quite  as  much  credit  to  him- 
self, and  will  go  out  quite  as  useful  a  citizen  as  the  student  who  takes 
the  full  four  years.  The  old  idea  used  to  be  that,  although  the  good 
student  could  do  his  work  in  shorter  time  and  with  greater  ease  than 
the  poor  or  indifferent  student,  yet  he  would  spend  his  leisure  time 
in  outside  reading;  he  would  cultivate  his  mind  by  drinking  in  the 
atmosphere  of  the  institution,  etc.  While  the  clever  student  sometimes 
did  that,  in  my  experience  in  the  East  and  in  the  West  the  clever  fel- 
low quite  as  often  spent  the  time  in  lounging  and  dissipation.  There 
was  no  sufficient  incentive  for  effort.  Of  course,  the  earnest  student 
made  a  good  use  of  his  time,  but  earnestness,  in  my  experience,  is 
largely  an  acquisition.  I  have  often  known  students  who  at  eighteen 
or  twenty  were  not  earnest  and  at  thirty  or  thirty-five  were  exceed- 
ingly earnest. 

A  DELEGATE  :    Under  your  system  will  not  the  excellent  or  honor 
student  miss  some  subjects  necessary  to  a  liberal  education  ? 
PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD: 

After  twenty-five  years  of  teaching  I  can  not  say  just  what  consti- 
tutes a  liberal  education.  When  I  was  in  college  the  term  Biology 
was  unknown.  Now,  we  will  suppose,  I  have  a  professor  of  Biology 
who  knows  nothing  of  Greek,  while  I,  the  professor  of  Greek,  know 
nothing  of  Biology.  Is  my  professor  of  Biology,  without  Greek,  and 
am  I,  without  Biology,  liberally  educated  ?  Probably  someone  here  can 
tell.  I  can  not.  The  upshot  of  my  experience  of  twenty-five  years  is 
practically  this,  that  the  most  one  gets  out  of  college  is  a  certain 
amount  of  mental  and  moral  power,  and  that  is  about  all  he  needs  to 
get  out  of  it. 

This  in  brief  is  what  I  have  to  offer  as  an  humble  contribution 
from  a  new  and  pioneer  state.  I  do  not  claim  for  it  any  advantage 
for  other  institutions,  but  it  serves  our  purposes  and  I  believe  it  has 
not  resulted  in  the  degrading  in  any  way  of  the  course.  Our  A.  B.  is 
just  as  valuable  as  before.  This  plan  provides  for  the  more  energetic 
students  a  way  of  getting  out  in  three  years  with  a  degree  which  is 
worth,  we  believe  quite  as  much  as  the  four  years'  degree. 

A  DELEGATE  :  Have  you  any  difficulty  with  your  students  as  to 
their  grade  in  their  own  minds?  Does  a  "Fair"  student  complain 
because  he  is  not  graded  "Excellent?" 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:  Yes,  we  have  that  brand  of  human 
nature.  We  have  some  students  who  never  think  that  they  get  their 
deserts. 

A  DELEGATE  :     You  publish  these  grades  in  the  catalogue  ? 

65 


u 

(< 


PRESIDENT  MEREIFIELD:  Yes,  sir,  we  shall  in  the  forthcoming 
edition. 

A  DELEGATE  :  Do  you  consider  that  an  essential  feature,  publish- 
ing the  grades  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD  :  The  publication  I  do  not  regard  as 
essential. 

A  DELEGATE:  Is  not  publication  calculated  to  humiliate  the 
dullard  or  lazy  student? 

t  PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD  :  I  am  coming  to  think  there  is  no  such 
hing  as  a  dullard.  Let  me  explain. 

Although  I  am  a  product  of  the  old  style  college  course  and  pre- 
side over  an  institution  which  for  many  years  had  only  that  course,  I 
do  not  feel  altogether  grateful  to  the  old  style  training.  I  feel  that 
it  left  me  lame  in  various  directions.  Since  we  established  our  depart- 
ment of  Engineering,  the  "dunderheads,"  the  fellows  who  never  used 
to  do  anything,  have  really  come  to  life.  They  do  things  that  are 
brilliant.  I  think  they  are  just  beginning  to  find  themselves.  They 
had  a  faculty  that  was  dumb  in  terms  of  Greek  and  Latin  but 
which  finds  eloquent  expression  in  terms  of  the  plane  and  turning 
lathe,  and  I  am  beginning  to  think  that  the  old  style  education,  the  old- 
fashioned  college  course,  left  a  lot  of  people  expressionless  simply 
because  it  did  not  give  them  an  adequate  language  of  expression.  You 
could  put  me  down  to  a  piano  and  I  could  not  do  anything.  But  I 
should  object  to  being  called  a  dunderhead  because  I  can  not  electrify 
you  on  the  piano.  In  the  same  way  the  student  who  can  not  do  wonder- 
ful things  in  Latin  and  Greek  and  possibly  mathematics  has  a  right 
not  to  be  set  down  as  a  dullard. 

It  is  true  that  under  our  plan  the  student  who  is  only  "Passable" 
or  "Fair"  will  have  to  be  content  to  be  classed  as  "Passable"  or  "Fair." 
I  do  not  see  why  the  student  who  is  "Excellent"  should  not  be  called 
"Excellent"  in  college  as  in  the  world.  The  world  is  notoriously 
frank  in  its  judgments  and  I  do  not  believe  it  is  unmitigated  kind- 
ness for  us  to  shelter  the  inefficient  and  the  lazy.  Their  awakening 
when  they  get  out  in  the  world  will  be  all  the  ruder  for  undue  coddling 
in  college. 

PRESIDENT  BASHFORD  :  Do  you  not  give  double  reward  by  classi- 
fying "Excellent"  and  graduating  in  three  years  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:  Of  course  you  might  leave  out  the 
honors  altogether.  Our  object  in  giving  the  honors  was  to  dignify 
scholarship  and  to  offer  an  inducement  to  young  men  and  women  to  do 
outside  work. 

66 


PRESIDENT  KING  :  I  would  like  to  inquire  whether  the  experiment 
has  been  sufficiently  tried  in  this  institution  for  the  President  to  have 
an  opinion  as  to  its  practicability,  and  if  so,  I  would  like  him  to  answer 
what  he  thinks  of  the  practicability  and  actual  working  out  of  the 
problems  from  the  standpoint  of  the  students,  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  faculty  and  from  an  educational  standpoint. 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:  Our  experience  has  been  very  limited 
but  I  believe  the  plan  to  be  thoroughly  practicable.  It  seems  to  me  it 
lets  a  student  out  at  the  end  of  the  three  years  in  the  right  way. 
Yale  and  Harvard  let  him  out  at  the  end  of  three  years  if  he  has  car- 
ried an  extra  amount  of  work.  Our  experience  has  been  that  that 
begets  a  certain  superficiality  on  the  part  of  the  best  students,  and 
unless  a  student  is  rugged  he  is  apt  to  break  down  under  the  strain. 
I  think  these  dangers  are  eliminated  here.  There  is  no  inducement 
here  for  superficiality,  and  I  ought  to  add  that  we  have  a  provision  in 
our  regulations  whereby  any  candidate  for  honors  who  neglects  his 
work  in  military  science  or  physical  culture,  or  is  injuring  his  health 
by  overwork  may  at  any  time  by  vote  of  the  faculty  be  deprived  of  the 
privilege  of  honor  work. 

Another  feature  of  the  plan  is  that  if  a  student  has  been  out  of 
school  for  a  time  he  can  get  his  degree  at  any  other  time  than  at  the 
end  of  the  year.  For  instance,  the  "Pass"  student  will  finish  in  four 
years,  the  "Fair"  in  three  years  and  two  terms,  the  "Good"  in  three 
years  and  one  term,  and  the  "Excellent"  with  two  honors,  in  three 
years.  If  the  "Excellent"  student  took  three  honors  he  could  get  out 
in  a  little  less  than  three  years.  If  he  lost  a  term  he  might  make 
it  up  in  this  way.  I  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  plan  will  not 
work  with  entire  success  with  us. 

A  DELEGATE  :  I  understand  that  by  this  plan  you  graduate  a  dull 
student  at  the  end  of  four  years  and  make  that  the  standard  of  your 
graduation  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:    Yes,  sir. 

A  DELEGATE  :  Is  it  not  inconceivable  that  any  student  should  be 
"Excellent"  in  all  of  his  subjects  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD  :  He  does  not  need  to  be  "Excellent"  in 
all  subjects.  He  must  be  "Excellent"  in  one  subject  and  at  least 
"Good"  in  all;  in  that  event  he  will  graduate  in  three  years.  The 
student  must  have  a  general  average  of  such  a  character  that  it  will 
put  him  in  the  "Excellent"  class.  He  may  not  fall  below  "Good"  and 
graduate  in  three  years. 

A  DELEGATE  :  May  I  ask  whether  this  plan  has  been  tried  at  all 
in  )rour  University?  67 


PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:  We  are  trying  it  now;  we  propose  to 
adopt  it  finally  next  year.  Our  brief  experience  with  it  has  been 
entirely  satisfactory  and  the  students  seem  to  be  as  much  pleased  with 
it  as  the  faculty  are. 

A   DELEGATE:     Would   this   arrangement   require   many   more 


PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:  No,  sir.  We  have  no  difficulty  in  that 
way.  We  have  a  wide  range  of  electives  and  the  classes  are  offered  for 
the  "Pass"  students.  It  has  not  increased  the  number  of  our  classes 
at  all.  Our  classes  were  organized  on  the  old  four  year  basis. 

A  DELEGATE:  Is  each  student  allowed  to  take  as  many  subjects 
as  he  is  capable  of  taking  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:  Four  is  the  normal  maximum.  No 
honor  student  can  take  more  than  four. 

A  DELEGATE  :  Then  he  is  credited  for  extra  periods  of  time,  for 
extra  work  in  those  four  studies  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD  :  Yes,  sir.  The  honor  student  takes  six- 
teen hours  a  week  and  gets  through  in  three  years. 

A  DELEGATE  :  You  rate  students  on  the  quality  and  not  on  the 
quantity  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:    Yes,  sir. 

A  DELEGATE  :  May  I  ask  just  what  the  requirements  for  gradua- 
tion are  ?  Is  it  so  many  credits  for  work  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:  It  is  so  many  credits  for  work  which 
ordinarily  would  require  four  years  of  residence.  Forty-eight  credits 
are  required  for  graduation  instead  of  forty-eight  units  of  work,  the 
credits  running  from  a  minimum  of  a  credit  for  each  unit  of  work 
to  a  maximum  of  a  credit  and  one-half  for  each  unit  of  work. 

A  DELEGATE  :    What  is  it  that  constitutes  a  unit  of  work  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD  :     A  unit  is  a  term's  work  in  one  subject. 

A  DELEGATE  :    Your  term  is  three  months  ? 

PRESIDENT  MERRIFIELD:    Yes,  sir. 

UNIVERSITY  GRADES  AND  HONORS. 
A.  System  of  Credits. 

1.  Marks  based  upon  the  class  work  and  the  final  examination 
shall  be  given  to  all  students  at  the  end  of  each  term  as  follows : 


1.     Scheme  adopted  by  University  of   North   Dakota.     Copy  submitted 
by  President  Merrifield.     See  page  64. 

68 


Excellent  (Ex.)  Conditioned  (C.) 

Good  (G.)  Failed  (Failed) 

Fair  (F.)  Incomplete  (I) 
Pass  (P.) 

Incomplete  work  should  be  indicated  as  Ix.,  Ig.,  or  If.,  etc., 
according  to  quality. 

2.  In  order  to  encourage  excellence  in  work,  quality  as  well  as 
quantity  is  to  be  taken  into  consideration  in  determining  a  student's 
fitness  for  graduation.    In  order  to  receive  a  degree  a  student  must 
have  completed  forty-eight  units  of  college  work ;  i.  e.,  the  equivalent 
of  four  courses  during  three  terms  for  four  years.    In  computing  his 
credits,  however,  the  following  plan  shall  be  employed: 

Por,  1  course      4  courses       4  courses     Curriculum      Tri «,  „„ 

Iterm         1  term  1  year  4  years          In  3  years 

Pass  1.  4.  12.  48.  36. 

Fair  1.1  4.4  13.2  52.8  39.6 

Good  1.2  4.8  14.4  57.6  43.2 

Excellent  1.3  5.2  15.6  62.4  46.8 

Honor  .2  .2  .6  1.81               1.22 

Excellent  with  Honor                1.5  5.4  16.2  64.2  48. 

3.  A  student  is  entitled  to  his  degree  whenever  he  has  forty- 
eight  units  of  work  to  his  credit,  provided  he  has  passed  all  the  re- 
quired subjects  in  his  curriculum. 

B.  Final  Grades. 

1.  Final  grades  shall  be  awarded  as  follows : 

Those  having  an  average  of  1.28  or  more  are  assigned  to  the  First 
Grade;  those  having  an  average  of  from  1.24  to  1.28  to  the  Second 
Grade;  those  having  an  average  of  from  1.20  to  1.24  to  the  Third 
Grade.  Those  below  1.20  are  not  graded. 

2.  These  grades  are  determined  by  dividing  the  number  of  the 
units  of  work  which  the  student  has  to  his  credit  by  the  number  of 
term  courses  he  has  taken,  the  maximum  being  1.33. 

3.  These  grades  shall  be  printed  on  the  Commencement  program 
at  the  time  the  student  graduates,  and  also  in  the  Catalogue  next 
published. 

C.  Special  Honors. 

Special  honors  are  awarded  as  a  mark  of  high  scholarship  and 
special  attainments  to  students  in  the  Normal  College  and  the  Colleges 
of  Arts  and  Engineering.  Candidates  for  these  honors  must  main- 

1.    3  honors.  2.    2  honors. 

69 


tain  a  standing  in  all  subjects  of  at  least  "Good,"  and  in  addition  must 
do  special  work  in  connection  with  one  or  more  of  their  regular  courses. 
To  undertake  honor  work  a  student  must  have  already  completed  in 
a  satisfactory  manner  three  full  college  courses;  and  he  must  have 
already  evinced  special  ability  in  the  line  of  work  in  which  he  proposes 
to  specialize. 

The  following  are  the  conditions  and  rules  of  procedure  governing 
the  award  of  these  honors : 

1.  A  student  desiring  to  study  for  honors  must  first  gain  the 
consent  of  the  head  of  the  department  in  which  he  desires  to  do  special 
work. 

2.  He  must  within  three  weeks  from  the  beginning  of  the  college 
year  petition  the  faculty  to  be  allowed  to  undertake  the  special  work. 

3.  If  the  student  is  allowed  to  become  a  candidate  for  honors 
he  will  at  once  arrange  his  special  work  with  the  professor  in  charge  of 
the  department  in  which  he  proposes  to  specialize,  and  the  professor 
will  assign  him  work  of  a  more  special,  technical  or  intensive  nature 
than  that  done  in  connection  with  the  regular  college  courses. 

4.  The  candidate  for  honors  must  maintain  a  standing  of  "Excel- 
lent" in  the  regular  college  course  in  connection  with  which  he  is  doing 
the  special  work,  and  in  addition  must  creditably  pass  such  examina- 
tions, prepare  such  reports,  essays,  and  theses  as  may  be  required  by 
the  professor  in  charge.     Finally  within  three  weeks  of  Commence- 
ment, he  must  satisfactorily  pass  a  written  examination  upon  the 
special  work  of  the  year. 

5.  No  student  taking  more  than  four  regular  college  courses 
can  be  a  candidate  for  honors. 

6.  No  student  can  study  for  honors  in  more  than  one  department 
at  a  time. 

7.  No  student  during  his  college  course  can  be  granted  more 
than  three  honors,  nor  more  than  two  in  one  branch  of  study. 

8.  All  honor  students  at  their  graduation  shall  have  their  names 
printed  on  the  Commencement  program  together  with  the  subject  or 
subjects  in  which  honor  or  honors  have  been  granted.     They  shall  be 
designated  as  Single  Honors,  Double     Honors,  and  Triple  Honors. 
The  names  and  honors  shall  also  be  printed  in  the  next  catalogue. 

9.  Any  candidate  for  honors  who  neglects  his  work  in  military 
science  or  physical  culture  or  who  violates  any  of  the  rules  of  the 
University,  or  who,  in  the  judgment  of  the  faculty,  is  injuring  his 
health  by  overstudy  or  neglect  of  exercise  may  at  any  time,  by  a  vote 
of  the  faculty,  be  deprived  of  the  privilege  and  obliged  to  drop  his 
honor  work. 


70 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  discussion  will  be  continued  by  President  Charles  W.  Need- 
ham,  of  the  Columbian  University. 
PRESIDENT  NEEDHAM: 

I  have  observed  in  the  discussion  carried  on,  in  which  I  have  been 
greatly  interested,  that  there  is  a  preponderance  of  college  men.  I 
want  to  say  at  the  beginning  that  I  indorse  heartily  and  would  empha- 
size all  the  sentiments  that  have  been  expressed  today.  When  I  saw 
the  question  which  was  to  be  discussed  this  forenoon  I  did  not  for  a 
moment  think  that  it  was  expected  that  there  would  be  any  addresses 
or  talk  upon  the  negative.  I  did  not  assume  for  a  moment  that  it  was 
expected  that  there  would  be.  I  assumed  that  the  college  men  simply 
wanted  to  be  assured  that  they  were  appreciated.  There  is  no  question 
about  the  field  of  the  college.  It  has  a  sphere  of  its  own  and  we  are 
here,  if  I  understand  the  call,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  boun- 
daries of  this  and  other  fields  of  education. 

Let  me  explain  the  attitude  of  the  business  man.  I  wish  to  say 
just  a  word  for  him.  I  was  in  one  of  the  great  business  institutions 
of  the  country  the  other  day  and  application  was  being  made  by  a  man 
for  a  place.  He  had  influential  backing,  was  a  fine  fellow;  he  had 
graduated  from  a  fine  college ;  he  did  not  smoke  nor  drink ;  he  had  no 
bad  habits ;  he  was  not  afraid  of  work,  he  said.  And  after  talking  with 
him  the  manager  said,  "That  is  all  good — excellent,  I  am  glad  you 
have  it.  Unfortunately  we  have  no  place  for  you."  And  the  man  was 
turned  away.  The  manager  said  to  me,  "It  is  unfortunate  that  these 
college  men  think  that  they  are  entitled  to  places  simply  because  they 
have  been  through  college." 

I  said,  "You  depreciate  college  life  and  work,  do  you  not  ?" 

"No,"  he  replied,  "I  believe  in  it  profoundly,  and  we  must  have 
it  if  we  are  to  have  the  proper  culture  of  mind  and  readiness  to  turn 
from  one  occupation  or  business  to  another." 

Our  President  Koosevelt  is  a  remarkably  fine  illustration  of  the 
type  of  Americans  who  can  turn  from  one  thing  to  another  quickly; 
he  is  a  college  man.  But  this  is  something  beyond  the  college.  We 
have  moved  into  the  age  of  specialization.  You  and  I  cannot  get  away 
from  it.  Unless  a  man  is  a  specialist  along  some  line  he  cannot  be  use- 
ful in  the  higher  fields  of  work ;  he  cannot  obtain  a  place  in  the  great 
organizations  which  are  covering  the  industrial  and  commercial  world 
today.  The  man  must  have  the  breadth  of  culture  which  the  college 
gives  as  a  foundation,  but  upon  this  foundation  he  must  build  a 
special  structure,  he  must  specialize. 

71 

X 


Let  us  define  the  field.  The  college  has  been  spoken  of  as  that 
agency  which  "makes  the  man."  There  is  a  sense  in  which  this  state- 
ment is  very  true.  I  remember  when  I  started  out  after  being  admitted 
to  the  bar,  Judge  Ira  Harris  said,  "It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  a  lawyer, 
but  it  is  a  greater  thing  to  be  a  man/'  There  is  a  sense  in  which  it  is 
true  that  the  college  is  the  making  of  the  man.  It  gives  him  depth, 
breadth  and  a  general  fitness  for  every  occupation.  A  definition  has 
been  quoted  from  Milton  having  in  it  the  words  "preparation  for  skil- 
ful work."  That  does  not  mean  general  culture ;  it  means  the  knowl- 
edge of  some  particular  thing.  It  was  stated  here  that  the  learned 
professions  are  Law,  Medicine  and  Theology.  That  used  to  be  the  case. 
It  is  not  true  today.  I  remember  crossing  the  ocean  not  long  ago  and 
on  board  the  vessel  were  three  very  distinguished  looking  men.  They 
impressed  me,  and  I  thought  from  their  appearance  they  must  be 
clergymen  of  the  English  Church.  I  was  interested  to  know  who  they 
were  because  I  heard  them  talking  about  their  "profession"  with  a 
profound  appreciation  of  it.  Afterward  I  found  that  two  of  them 
were  chemists  from  a  German  university  and  the  other  was  a  chemist 
from  an  English  university.  Chemistry  is  a  profession — a  learned 
profession.  In  my  own  institution  I  have  been  criticised  because  I  did 
not  speak  of  engineering  as  a  profession.  Engineering  today  is  a 
learned  profession.  Speaking  of  chemistry,  I  was  in  another  great 
institution  in  New  York  and  had  a  very  delightful  talk  with  a  chemist. 
I  found  that  he  had  come  from  a  great  university  and  was  receiving  a 
salary  far  beyond  that  of  college  professors  or  presidents.  He  was  fol- 
lowing his  profession.  Every  occupation  requiring  careful  specializa- 
tion is  a  "profession."  The  word  has  acquired  a  broad  meaning. 
Now,  I  say  that  we  must  divide  the  fields  of  educational  activity,  thus : 

First,  there  is  the  elementary  work  and  the  secondary  school  work, 
carried  on  largely  in  the  public  schools,  then  comes  the  college,  and 
lastly  the  university.  I  would  not  divide  the  field  entirely  with 
reference  to  the  subjects  taught;  there  is  a  marked  difference  in 
the  method  of  teaching  the  subjects.  In  the  elementary  and  second- 
ary schools  it  is  largely  work  of  memorizing,  of  taking  in  facts — 
dogmatic  statement  of  facts.  In  the  college  the  method  requires  the 
student  to  exercise  the  reasoning  faculties;  there  he  develops  the 
power  to  reason  and  investigate.  Thus  the  work  in  the  college  is,  or 
should  be,  carried  on  by  close  contact  between  professor  and  student. 
Then  comes  research  where  the  student  acts  more  independently,  in- 
vestigates for  himself,  finds  the  facts  and  applies  them  to  new  con- 
ditions. He  needs  to  be  guided;  he  must  have  a  master;  but  the 

72 


work  of  the  university  professor  may  be  carried  on  by  the  lecture 
system  in  a  large  degree.  The  university  is  for  graduate  work. 
The  college  teaches  the  principles,  the  truths,  the  doctrines  of  life 
and  works  them  out  in  the  laboratory,  but  by  and  by  these  things 
must  go  into  the  field  of  specialization  and  there  it  will  be  deter- 
mined whether  they  have  real  commercial  value,  may  I  say.  The 
gentleman  in  New  York,  to  whom  I  have  already  referred,  said  he 
thought  the  college  professors,  in  the  sciences,  were  at  least  four 
or  five  years  behind  the  times.  He  did  not  say  that  critically, 
because  he  said,  "I  have  the  highest  respect  for  these  men.  We 
often  go  to  them  and  we  take  them  into  our  works."  The  professor 
in  the  college  has  to  take  his  knowledge  from  books  and  from  the 
laboratories  which  are  furnished  by  the  institution,  and  these  facilities 
are  necessarily  limited.  The  great  industrial  institutions  have  the 
greatest  facilities,  fine  laboratories,  all  the  money  needed  for  the 
best  experimental  work  and  there  the  best  work  is  being  done.  Money 
making  is  a  great  incentive  for  bringing  these  sciences  up  to  date, 
obtaining  the  best  and  latest  developments  in  the  scientific  world. 

It  seems  to  me  that  if  we  can  agree  among  ourselves  where  the 
secondary  work  shall  stop  and  college  work  begin,  where  the  college 
or  general  culture  course  shall  end  and  specialization  begin,  then 
we  have  determined  the  field  that  remains  for  the  university. 

Permit  me  to  say  a  word  in  reference  to  the  cultural  value  of 
professional  education.  It  has  a  cultural  value.  There  has  been  an 
entire  change  in  the  methods  of  teaching  these  specialties.  The  old 
plan  was  to  have  the  Law  school  by  itself,  the  Medical  school  by  itself, 
but  today  they  are  becoming  true  departments  of  the  university. 
This  means  that  the  methods  of  study  now  pursued  are  being  changed 
and  systematized.  Today  the  student  in  Law  and  in  Medicine  is 
taught  subjects  historically;  he  is  taught  scientifically;  he  acquires 
his  knowledge  in  a  methodical  manner;  there  is  a  scientific  develop- 
ment of  the  subjects.  Is  there  not  cultural  value  in  this?  Surely 
there  is. 

Generally  speaking  we  limit  the  teaching  of  the  Law  to  the  Law 
professor;  credit  for  a  subject  of  Law  taught  by  the  academic  teacher 
is  not  often  given.  The  academic  teacher  finds  fault  with  that,  but 
I  believe  it  is  right.  Law  must  be  taught  as  a  specialty  from  the 
legal  standpoint.  I  have  observed  very  closely  the  difference  in  the 
teaching.  I  recall  now  two  teachers,  both  distinguished  men,  one 
an  academic  teacher,  the  other  a  man  distinguished  in  the  profession 
of  the  Law,  occupying  today  a  high  and  exalted  position  upon  the 

73 


Supreme  Bench  of  the  United  States.  Both  are  college  men,  thor- 
oughly cultured,  thoroughly  equipped  for  their  work.  I  have  been 
in  the  class-rooms  of  these  men  and  listened  to  their  instruction. 
They  taught  international  law.  The  academic  teacher  went  over  the 
same  ground  as  the  other.  He  referred  to  many  of  the  same  cases, 
but  when  he  was  through  there  was  a  lack  of  clear  definition.  We 
all  know  that  international  law  is  in  the  process  of  development. 
The  academic  teacher  left  the  student  with  a  doubtful  definition  as 
to  whether  a  particular  tendency  toward  a  rule  of  action  had  really 
become  an  international  law.  On  the  other  hand  the  lawyer,  who  had 
sat  upon  international  tribunals,  spoke  with  a  clear  definition  in 
reference  to  the  development  of  international  law  and  its  application 
to  given  cases.  The  difference,  it  seems  to  me,  is  this,  as  between 
men  who  are  well  equipped — I  speak  of  no  others — that  the  work 
of  the  academic  teacher  in  a  subject  requiring  long  and  careful  spe- 
cialization, lacks  that  definition  and  clearness  that  is  shown  by  a 
man  who  has  been  applying  the  principles  to  concrete  cases  and  work- 
ing out  the  problems  in  practical  life.  Therefore,  in  my  opinion, 
the  college  should  do  the  work  of  general  culture  without  any  ref- 
erence to  what  the  man  intends  to  follow  as  an  occupation,  and  the 
specialized  work  should  be  taken  up  in  the  university.  Our  grand- 
fathers went  through  a  four  years'  course  in  college  and  then  took 
up  special  courses  of  an  indifferent  kind  for  one  or  two  years.  A 
gentleman — a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court — told  me  the  other  day 
that  he  went  through  Yale  and  then  took  his  course  in  Law  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  before  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age.  It 
took  him  five  years  in  college  and  special  study  to  fit  himself  for  the 
law.  What  is  the  situation  today?  A  man  can  not  afford  in  these 
days  to  give  more  of  his  life  to  preparation  than  is  actually  necessary. 
We  must  divide  the  field  with  reference  to  present  conditions  and 
methods.  Each  course  must  have  its  full  value  assigned  it  and  the 
time  fairly  divided  between  the  general  culture  course  and  the  pro- 
fessional course.  The  college  is  the  natural  feeder  for  the  univer- 
sity; it  is  absolutly  essential  to  the  university,  and  there  will  be 
and  ought  to  be  colleges  all  through  this  land  in  every  part  of  it 
near  the  people  devoting  themselves  entirely  to  this  field  of  general 
culture.  And  the  universities  in  the  future  must  do  their  work 
largely,  if  not  wholly,  in  the  field  of  specialization. 

A  DELEGATE:     Will  President  Needham  not  tell  us  what  he 
thinks  about  shortening  the  courses? 

74 


PRESIDENT  NEEDHAM:  Yes,  I  think  the  college  course  can  be 
shortened.  I  think  it  should  be  shortened  to  three  years,  but  I  would 
not  decrease  the  work.  When  a  student  goes  through  the  high  school 
under  a  pressure  of  at  least  twenty  hours  per  week  it  is  none  too 
much  to  keep  up  a  like  pressure  through  the  college  course.  I  am 
aware  that  he  may  lose  some  time  for  games  and  society,  but  life 
has  changed  and  we  must  meet  the  change.  In  our  university,  for 
instance,  we  have  just  adopted  a  course  for  undergraduates  of  sixty 
hours,  fifty  of  which  must  be  university  studies,  to  earn  the  Bachelor 
degree.  Ten  hours  may,  if  taken  in  the  professional  schools,  be 
counted  in  that  course.  This  shortens  the  entire  student  life  to  six 
or  seven  years. 

A  DELEGATE:  Would  the  speaker  correspondingly  shorten  the 
university  course? 

PRESIDENT  NEEDHAM  :  No,  I  would  not.  We  can  not.  The  states 
are  now  fixing  the  period  of  study  for  admission  to  the  practice  of 
Medicine  and  Law  at  three  and  four  years.  We  can  not  cut  down 
their  period  of  study.  Then  again,  it  is  impossible  to  do  the  work 
in  less  than  three  years.  I  think  every  man  knows  that  to  be  true. 
I  think  if  the  college  has  for  the  general  culture  course  fifty  or  sixty 
hours  of  work  in  three  years  and  then  three  years  is  given  to  the 
special  courses  in  the  university  this  would  be  a  fair  division  of 
the  field. 

A  DELEGATE:  I  should  like  to  ask  the  speaker  if  he  believes 
that  a  man  is  as  well  qualified  for  any  technical  or  professional  pur- 
suit at  the  end  of  a  three  years'  course  as  at  the  end  of  four  years? 
Is  he  as  well  developed  in  his  powers  of  mastery  ? 

PRESIDENT  NEEDHAM:  It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  answer  that 
question  without  being  misunderstood.  Of  course  a  man  can  do  more 
in  four  years  than  in  three;  but  I  think  this  is  true,  that  consider- 
ing the  work  in  the  colleges  in  the  past,  a  man  would  go  out  better 
fitted  for  special  work  if  he  worked  more  intensely  and  under  greater 
pressure.  That  is,  did  the  same  work  in  less  time. 

A  DELEGATE  :  I  should  like  to  ask  in  connection  with  the  matter 
of  laws  being  passed  to  require  four  years  and  three  years  of  study — 
isn't  it  in  large  measure  due  to  the  fact  that  men  going  into  profes- 
sions have  not  been  college  men  and  have  not  been  able  to  master 
the  technical  and  professional  pursuits  as  easily  as  college  men  in 
three  years?  Would  a  college  man  do  more  work  in  a  professional 
school  in  three  years  than  a  high  school  man  would  in  four  ? 

75 


PRESIDENT  NEEDHAM:  Undoubtedly.  It  is  true  that  a  college 
man  would  be  better  fitted,  and  I  believe  the  time  will  soon  come 
when  the  standard  will  be  raised  all  through  the  land  requiring  col- 
lege courses  as  a  prerequisite  for  special  work.  A  man  needs  this 
broad  culture  in  order  to  equip  himself  for  specialization. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  topic  is  now  open  for  general  discussion. 

PRESIDENT  J.  W.  BASHFORD,  OF  OHIO  WESLEYAN  UNIVERSITY  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  am  sure  we  have  been  very  richly  repaid  for 
coming.  If  the  Conference  is  to  come  to  anything  more  than  some 
very  profound  papers  and  brilliant  addresses,  we  ought  to  take  some 
action  in  regard  to  the  future.  I  should  like  to  give  my  five  minutes 
to  Dr.  Goucher.  The  whole  matter  can  be  arranged  for  in  five 
minutes.  Then  we  can  resume  the  general  discussion. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

I  presume  that  it  will  be  the  wish  of  the  delegates  to  hear  Dr. 
Goucher. 

PRESIDENT  GOUCHER: 

Mr.  Chairman :  I  do  not  wish  to  speak  upon  this  subject  directly. 
I  desire  to  make  a  motion,  if  it  is  in  order. 

I  wish  to  move  that  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  this  after- 
noon to  report  on  the  desirability  and  practicability  of  forming  a 
permanent  college  organization;  and  that  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
that  committee  to  report  tomorrow  morning  at  half  past  ten. 

If  it  were  necessary  to  support  this  motion  I  should  make  a 
speech.  I  believe  it  is  generally  thought  that  we  should  take  some 
definite  action  of  this  kind.  We  have  representatives  here  from 
Maine,  from  California,  from  Texas,  from  North  Dakota — from  more 
than  twenty  states.  It  is  a  representative  body.  It  is  essential  that 
the  term  college  shall  approximate  a  definition.  It  is  limited  on 
neither  side.  There  are  colleges,  so-called,  the  work  of  which  does 
not  exceed  schools  of  the  secondary  grade ;  there  are  colleges,  so-called, 
which  are  attempting  university  work.  If  an  organization  should  be 
formed — if  it  were  possible  for  it  to  agree  upon  a  schedule  which 
would  indicate  the  minimum  and  maximum  limits  of  the  college 
work,  then  the  term  would  have  a  definite  meaning,  and  its  special 
work  could  be  more  readily  defined. 

I  move  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  a  committee  of  five,  or  seven, 
be  appointed  to  report  tomorrow  morning  at  half  past  ten  o'clock 
on  the  advisability  of  forming  a  national  college  association,  and  if 

76 


in  their  judgment  it  is  wise,  that  they  present  a  definite  plan  of 
organization. 

Motion  seconded. 

Motion  carried. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

I  will  ask  your  permission  to  confer  with  President  James  before 
naming  the  committee. 

We  are  still  on  the  original  subject  for  discussion.  Does  Presi- 
dent J.  W.  Bashf ord  desire  to  say  anything  ? 

PRESIDENT  BASHFORD  :    I  gave  my  time  to  Dr.  Goucher. 
THE  CHAIRMAN: 

Vice-President  Francis  Cassilly,  of  St.   Ignatius  College,  will 
speak. 
VICE-PRESIDENT  CASSILLY  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  The  question  as  formulated  is,  Should  the  col- 
lege course  be  reduced  in  time?  We  have  had  a  great  many  sound 
ideas  expressed  in  regard  to  it.  However,  it  seems  to  me  that  if 
we  want  to  discuss  it  intelligently  we  must  take  this  question  in 
connection  with  some  other  questions. 

The  college  course  is  not  a  unit  separate  from  all  other  courses. 
Education  is  a  growth.  The  whole  of  education  is  a  growth.  At  this 
time  there  is  a  number  of  opinions  rife  which  are  not  correct.  There 
seems  to  be  an  opinion  prevalent  to  the  effect  that  you  can  parcel  out 
education,  that  you  can  measure  it  out  just  as  you  would  measure 
any  material  commodity.  Of  course,  any  person  who  has  spent  his 
life  in  it  knows  that  education  is  not  of  this  nature.  It  is  the 
growth  of  a  live  principle  and  it  begins  when  the  child  is  in  its 
mother's  arms,  and  it  goes  on  from  day  to  day  through  life.  It  is 
divided  into  periods,  naturally. 

When  we  take  up  this  question  of  the  college  course  and  its  rela- 
tion to  other  courses,  we  must  consider  its  relation  with  the  uni- 
versity, its  relation  with  the  secondary  school,  its  relation  with  the 
elementary  school.  We  must  take  into  consideration  also  the  length 
of  a  man's  life.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  college  course  should  stop 
about  the  twenty-first  year.  This  is  the  age  when  youth  is  generally 
considered  to  arrive  at  man's  estate.  About  the  twenty-first  year  the 
general  course,  the  culture  and  refinement  course,  which  has  already 
developed  the  taste  and  judgment,  should  stop  and  the  young  man 
should  be  ready  for  university  training.  The  university  course  should 
begin  at  twenty-one  to  prepare  him  for  his  special  life-work.  If 

77 


the  general  course  is  to  stop  at  twenty-one,  then  we  must  arrange 
all  other  courses  so  that  they  will  dovetail  nicely. 

Is  it  necessary  for  the  college  course  to  be  four  years  in  length  ? 
If  we  take  seven  years  of  age,  which  is  about  the  time  schooling 
begins,  we  have  eight  years  for  the  common  grade  school  course.  The 
high  school  requires  four  years,  the  college  four.  That  brings  the 
young  man  to  twenty-three  when  he  takes  his  bachelor's  degree.  I 
think  here  is  the  secret  of  this  whole  discussion.  We  have  found  out 
that  the  age  at  which  the  youth  receives  his  bachelor's  degree  is 
too  late.  We  have  got  to  cut  it  down  by  one  or  two  years.  My 
opinion  is  that  the  college  course  is  one  of  the  very  best  courses. 
Why  not  cut  the  time  by  removing  something  from  the  elementary 
course  ?  Why  should  it  be  necessary  to  spend  eight  years  in  the  gram- 
mar school  and  four  in  the  high  school?  If  the  study-schedules  in 
high  school  and  grammar  school  were  arranged  economically,  and 
time  retrenched  from  the  less  important  studies,  students  could  be 
prepared  for  college  in  much  less  time  than  at  present.  Let  us 
have  three  or  four  years  for  the  college  course.  I  have  been  engaged 
in  college  work  all  my  life  and  I  must  say  that  I  prefer  to  have  stu- 
dents begin  the  high  school  course  before  they  finish  the  eighth  grade. 
I  think  they  can  do  better  work.  That  is  my  experience.  The  others 
who  wait  until  they  finish  the  eighth  grade  seem  to  lose  one  or  two 
years.  A  boy  or  girl  will  finish  the  eighth  grade  at  fifteen  years. 
It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  a  little  late  to  begin  the  high  school 
course.  If  they  could  begin  their  Latin  much  earlier  than  that 
it  would  be  well.  There  is  where  the  time  is  wasted.  It  is  wasted 
in  the  high  school  and  particularly  in  the  grammar  grades. 
THE  CHAIRMAN: 

Director  George  N".  Carman,  of  Lewis  Institute,  will  now  address 
you. 
DIRECTOR  CARMAN: 

Mr.  Chairman:  In  considering  this  question  of  the  length  of 
the  college  course,  is  it  not  essential  that  we  take  into  account  the 
fact  that  there  is  something  that  comes  before  the  college  as  well 
as  something  that  follows  it?  We  all  know  that  great  changes  are 
taking  place  in  the  instruction  given  in  the  high  or  secondary  school. 
We  know  that  many  of  the  same  subjects,  or  parts  of  subjects,  are 
now  taught  in  the  secondary  school  and  in  college.  It  is  often  im- 
possible to  draw  a  line  and  in  the  case  of  particular  subjects  say, 
"This  is  high  school  work  and  that  is  college  work."  We  may  illus- 
trate in  the  matter  of  Mathematics,  for  example.  Most  colleges  re- 
vs 


quire  work  in  Mathematics  that  in  the  high  school  takes  two  or 
three  years  to  accomplish.  There  are  colleges  that  require — I  have 
in  mind  particularly  Cornell  University — that  students  who  enter 
the  engineering  schools  shall  have  completed  a  high  school  course 
in  Mathematics  of  four  years  in  length.  Modern  languages  are  taught 
in  the  high  school  and  in  college.  In  some  subjects  then,  the  same 
work  may  be  done  by  a  high  school  and  by  the  college. 

It  may  be  said,  as  has  been  intimated  in  this  conference,  that 
the  difference  between  the  college  and  the  high  school  is  the  difference 
in  the  way  the  work  is  done.  In  the  secondary  school  it  is  memory 
work  primarily;  in  the  college,  reasoning.  I  do  not  think  we  can 
accept  this  as  a  satisfactory  statement  of  the  difference  between 
high  school  and  college  work.  Consider  for  a  moment  this  matter 
of  marking  students  and  publishing  the  marks  that  we  have  heard 
something  of  this  afternoon.  There  are  some  of  us  who  feel  that  it 
is  well  for  men  who  have  reached  college  to  give  less  attention  to 
marks  than  the  plan  suggested  contemplates.  There  is  many  a  high 
school  in  which  the  method  of  teaching  is  up  to  the  best  standards 
of  the  college  or  university,  and  there  are  colleges  and  universities 
in  which  the  method  of  teaching  is  such  as  has  here  been  associated 
with  the  secondary  school.  Whether,  then,  the  college  course  is  two 
years  or  four  years  in  length,  we  must  certainly  take  into  account  not 
only  the  age  of  the  students,  but  the  sort  of  instruction  they  had 
before  entering  college,  and  the  studies  they  pursued  and  the  character 
of  the  instruction  they  received,  in  the  high  school. 

We  know  that  there  are  represented  in  this  body  colleges  and  col- 
leges. We  know  that  the  degree  of  A.  B.  as  given  in  one  institu- 
tion may  represent  one  thing  and  as  given  in  another  college  some- 
thing quite  different.  You  will  all  grant  that  there  is  a  great  dif- 
ference in  colleges  as  such,  in  secondary  schools  as  such,  and  in 
universities  as  such.  It  is  no  longer  possible  to  define  an  institu- 
tion by  calling  it  a  high  school  or  university.  We  must  look  further. 
I  have  a  case  in  mind  in  which  a  student  who  had  received  the 
degree  of  A.  B.  from  a  college  found  it  necessary  to  spend  two  years 
in  an  academy  to  prepare  for  another  college,  and  all  three  institu- 
tions are  in  the  state  of  Illinois. 
PROFESSOR  J.  H.  T.  MAIN,  OF  IOWA  COLLEGE: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  wish  to  ask  one  question.  As  I  understand 
Professor  Needham,  he  contends  that  the  academic  teacher  of  a  tech- 
nical subject  is  not  qualified  to  give  in  college  the  kind  of  instruc- 
tion required  in  the  professional  school.  It  seems  to  me  that  is  a 

79 


very  important  point.  If  we  have  sufficient  data  on  which  to  gen- 
eralize in  regard  to  the  matter  we  have  a  conclusion  deserving  care- 
ful attention.  But  right  at  that  point  there  is  a  question  in  my  mind. 
It  seems  to  me  we  have  not  enough  material  on  hand  with  which 
to  try  to  reach  anything  like  a  definite  conclusion.  It  seems  to  me 
right  there  is  where  the  college  must  begin  to  protect  itself  against 
the  encroachments  of  the  professional  school.  Beginning  with  the 
Junior  year  we  have  a  great  many  elective  subjects  and  will  have 
more.  International  law  will  be  one  of  those  subjects,  Physiological 
Chemistry  another,  and  various  other  subjects.  It  is  the  business 
of  the  colleges,  it  seems  to  me,  to  teach  them  so  that  they  will  be 
acceptable  to  the  professional  school.  It  is  the  business,  then,  of 
the  professional  school  to  accept  such  subjects.  Just  as  the  college 
accepts  the  work  of  the  secondary  school,  provided  the  proper  exam- 
ination is  passed,  so  the  professional  school  must  determine  by 
some  sort  of  examination  whether  the  college  is  securing  adequate 
results  in  technical  subjects.  I  think  that  is  a  very  important  point, 
and  it  is  a  point  where  the  professional  school  and  the  college  must 
come  together.  The  college  will  teach  these  subjects  more  and  more. 
What  will  the  professional  school  do  ?  I  do  not  want  the  professional 
school  to  accept  these  subjects  unless  they  have  been  adequately  taught. 
The  college  work  must  be  worthy.  If  in  certain  cases  the  academic 
teacher  is  not  qualified  to  give  adequate  instruction,  let  one  be  se- 
cured who  can. 

PROFESSOR  MUNROE  SMITH,  OF  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  : 

Mr.  Chairman :  I  simply  want  to  call  the  attention  of  the  last 
speaker  to  the  fact  that  the  question  last  mentioned  is  the  next  one 
called  for. 

PRESIDENT  J.  W.  BASHFORD,  OF  OHIO  WESLEYAN  UNIVERSITY  : 

Mr.  Chairman:     I  will  say  a  word  upon  the  subject  in  hand. 
Of  course  it  is  understood  by  all  of  us  who  are  here — and  we  have 
constant  experience  with  that  fact — that  the  student  is  entirely  free 
to  go  to  the  college  for  one  year,  or  two  years,  or  three,  or  four 
years.     If  any  student  finds  it  advantageous  to  himself,  and  if  the 
professional  school  finds  it  advantageous  to  itself  to  do  so,  the  stu- 
dent can  leave  the  college.     The  only  question  that  is  at  stake  ~isp\ 
whether  we  shall  give  the  college  degree  for  two,  or  three,  or  four  J 
years'  work.     Upon  that  point  I  am  emphatically  opposed  to  a  changeT" 
I  am  President  of  the  Association  of  College  Presidents  of  Ohio.    We 
spent  half  a  day  discussing  this  question  from  every  possible  point  of 

so 


view.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  we  found  that  the  increase  of  college 
population  among  the  young  men  is  sixty  per  cent,  we  are  evidently 
not  losing  in  number  by  maintaining  the  four  years'  course.  If  there 
is  a  demand  for  the  shorter  course  it  does  not  show  itself  in  a  practical 
way.  The  very  fact  that  the  young  men  are  increasing  in  numbers 
so  rapidly  shows  that  they  appreciate  the  advantages  of  a  college 
course  and  that  they  are  willing  to  pay  the  price. 

There  is  a  book  published  in  this  city  entitled,  "Who's  Who  in  \ 
America/5  It  is  in  the  office  of  every  teacher;  it  is  a  book  with 
which  many  of  you  are  familiar.  That  book  gives  the  names  of  / 
about  9,700  people  who  are  prominent  in  public  life;  6,700  have 
college  degrees,  or  have  the  culture  represented  in  the  college  degree. 
So  that  the  per  cent  of  college  men  who  are  succeeding  in  the  profes- 
sional and  in  business  lines  is  in  favor  of  the  college  men.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  people  who  are  without  the  college  training  are  at 
a  disadvantage.  Taking  the  statistics,  the  man  who  has  the  college 
training  multiplies  his  powers  by  two  hundred  and  four.  The  great 
body  of  people  do  not  furnish  more  than  one-third  as  many  in  the 
list  as  their  numbers  would  entitle.  Trained  men  and  women  furnish 
two  hundred  times  as  many  as  their  numbers  entitle;  untrained  peo- 
ple furnish  less  than  one-third  as  many  as  their  numbers  entitle 
them.  This  shows  our  young  people  an  advantage  of  over  six  hundred 
in  favor  of  the  trained  men  and  women.  ^ 

Judging  by  the  growth  of  our  colleges;  judging  by  the  success 
of  our  people,  our  college  courses  are  vindicated. 

There  is  one  other  fact.  Scientists  are  telling  us  that  the  prog- 
ress of  the  human  race  is  due  to  the  fact  that  we  have  a  long  recep- 
tive period.  The  period  of  receptivity  of  youth  in  the  animal  king- 
dom is  very  low — three  or  four  years.  And  the  period  of  youth  in 
the  barbarous  nations  and  among  savage  peoples  extends  to  about 
the  fifteenth  or  sixteenth  year,  but  the  period  in  civilized  nations 
extends  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  or  twenty-three.  Now,  if  there  is 
any  lesson  to  be  drawn,  it  is  that  our  progress  is  due  to  this  increase 
of  the  period  of  receptivity — the  increase  of  the  period  of  prepara- 
tion. I  am  sure  that,  if  we  are  to  fit  ourselves  for  the  tasks  of 
the  twentieth  century,  the  way  to  begin  is  not  by  cutting  down  the 
preparation  but  by  increasing  it. 
PRESIDENT  CHARLES  A.  BLAN CHARD,  OF  WHEATON  COLLEGE  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  think  that  this  subject  before  us  this  after- 
noon is  very  helpful.  The  question  is,  Shall  the  college  course  be 
cut  down  in  time  and  correspondingly  in  amount  of  work?  The  dis- 

81 


cussion  which  has  preceded  in  regard  to  this  matter  has  seemed  to 
center  about  the  question  of  time  alone,  and  remarks  have  often  been 
made  to  indicate  that  there  are  some  schools  which  require  a  certain 
time  of  residence  irrespective  of  the  amount  of  work  which  is  to 
be  done.  I  have  never  heard  of  such  a  college.  I  do  not  believe 
there  ever  was  one.  I  think  that  it  is  very  helpful  that  we  should 
come  clearly  to  see  that  the  proposition  to  shorten  the  college  course 
is  not  to  shorten  the  amount  of  time,  but  it  is  a  proposition  to 
diminish  the  amount  of  work  which  is  to  be  done.  We  ought  to 
keep  this  fact  in  mind  in  all  the  discussion  in  regard  to  this  matter. 
Is  the  amount  of  work  now  required  by  the  colleges  for  the  degrees 
offered  in  excess  of  that  which  should  be  required?  Shall  we  cut 
down  the  amount  of  time  ?  Shall  we  correspondingly  cut  the  amount 
of  work? 

There  is  another  thing  which  it  seems  to  me  ought  to  be  cleared 
up.  That  is  the  question  as  to  what  liberal  culture  is.  I  do  not 
know  that  I  am  anywhere  near  right  in  my  ideas;  I  will  give  them 
for  what  they  are  worth.  If  they  are  not  worth  much  I  shall  be 
able,  possibly  in  this  discussion,  to  get  some  of  more  value.  Take 
the  suggestion  of  the  President  of  the  University  of  North  Dakota. 
Did  the  fact  that  he  did  not  have  Biology  hinder  him  from  being 
a  liberally  educated  man?  Did  the  fact  that  his  Biology  teacher 
did  not  have  Greek  prevent  his  Biology  teacher  from  being  a  liber- 
ally educated  man?  I  suppose  that  a  liberal  education  is  one  which 
does  not  directly  tend  to  the  life  task  and  the  life  reward.  In  other 
words,  if  a  man  is  going  to  teach  Biology  for  a  living  the  study  of 
Greek  would  be  a  liberal  study  because  it  would  enlarge  his  mind 
and  give  him  a  broader  foundation.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  man 
was  to  be  a  teacher  of  Greek  the  study  of  Biology  would  be  a  liberal 
study,  because  it  would  give  him  a  broader  basis  for  his  life  work. 

What  is  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  Dr.  Bashford  has  just 
mentioned,  viz.,  that  the  college  man  in  proportion  to  other  men  has 
so  many  chances  of  securing  recognition  for  his  work?  I  think  it 
is  simply  because  the  college  education  has  been  affording  the  per- 
sons who  have  had  it  with  more  points  of  contact  with  their  fellow 
men.  The  professional  study  tends  directly  to  the  income.  The  pur- 
suit of  studies  which  do  not  tend  directly  to  the  pocket  book  are  not 
sharpening,  as  the  professional  studies  are,  but  the  effect  is  broaden- 
ing. I  can  very  well  believe  that  the  instruction  in  international 
law  would  be  different  if  given  by  a  college  professor  instead  of  a 
person  actively  practicing  as  a  lawyer.  At  the  same  time  it  might 

82 


be  true  that  the  college  professor  would  furnish  to  his  college  stu- 
dents that  which,  since  they  are  not  to  be  international  lawyers  but 
educated  men  in  various  professions,  would  be  quite  as  valuable  to 
them  as  though  their  instruction  had  been  furnished  by  the  prac- 
ticing lawyer.  It  might  be  more  valuable.  It  might  give  them  a 
look  at  that  subject  which  would  be  more  helpful  to  them  than 
the  look  which  they  would  get  from  the  lawyer. 

I  wanted  to  say  a  word  in  regard  to  the  suggestion  of  Director 
Carman  that  there  are  high  schools  and  high  schools.  The  question 
as  I  understand  it  is  whether,  since  the  college  requires  a  certain 
number  of  studies  in  addition  to  studies  pursued  in  secondary  schools, 
the  amount  of  time  now  devoted  to  them  should  be  reduced  and 
the  work  correspondingly  reduced.  I  take  it  that  the  average  col- 
lege man  knows  that  a  large  part  of  the  work  done  by  ambitious 
high  schools  is  done  so  poorly  as  to  be  practically  valueless  and  often 
injurious  to  students.  Of  course,  any  of  us  who  know  Lewis  Insti- 
tute know  that  the  work  there  is  pedagogically  excellent.  No  one 
present  will  say  that  if  a  person  comes  to  college  with  the  first  or 
second  year  done  in  Lewis  Institute,  or  anywhere  else,  provided  it 
is  done,  that  he  will  have  to  do  it  over  again.  The  question  is  not, 
shall  we  require  a  student  to  remain  in  our  institution  to  go  over 
that  ground  again  and  then  take  two  years  in  addition  in  order 
to  secure  his  degree.  The  question  is,  if  this  student  comes  up  to 
us  with  two  years  of  work  done  and  two  years  of  work  not  done, 
shall  we  give  him  his  A.  B.  or  shall  we  let  him  do  these  other 
two  years  before  he  receives  his  degree?  In  other  words  is  A.  B.  to 
represent  Sophomore  or  Senior  grade? 

I  wish  to  record  myself  with  Dr.  Bashford  as  in  favor  of  re- 
taining substantially  the  amount  of  work  now  required.  I  have  had 
a  great  many  students  who  have  gone  into  the  professional  schools 
before  completing  their  college  course  who  have  said  to  me  that 
they  felt  they  ought  to  have  remained  longer  in  college.  I  think 
it  would  be  easy  to  find  thousands  of  men  who  have  been  through 
college  and  professional  schools  who  wish  they  had  studied  more. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  find  one  who  wished  he  had  studied  less. 
It  seems  to  me  that  college  men  should  stand  fast  by  that  course 
which  for  two  hundred  years  has  won  its  way  into  the  hearts  of  the 
American  people  and  is  now  working  out  such  splendid  results. 
THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  time  has  come  for  closing  the  discussion  on  the  present 
topic.  Is  it  the  will  of  the  Conference  that  we  take  a  recess  of 
five  minutes?  83 


A  DELEGATE:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  that  we  take  a  recess  of 
five  minutes. 

Motion  seconded. 
Motion  carried. 

RECESS. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

Will  the  gentlemen  please  come  to  order?  The  second  topic 
for  discussion  is,  What  subjects  in  the  typical  college  course  can  be 
accepted  by  the  professional  school  as  qualifying  in  part  for  the 
professional  degree  so  as  to  shorten  the  time  required  for  graduation 
in  the  professional  school? 

The  first  paper  will  be  presented  by  President  Franklin  C.  South- 
worth,  of  Meadville  Theological  School. 
PRESIDENT  SOUTHWORTH: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  There  is  a  three-fold 
difficulty  in  giving  a  categorical  answer  to  the  question  which  has  been 
addressed  to  me.  The  first  difficulty  comes  from  the  fact  that  there 
is  at  the  present  time  no  typical  college  course.  The  college  course 
is  going  through  a  process  of  evolution.  It  would  have  been  easier 
to  answer  the  question,  "What  subjects  in  the  ideal  college  course  can 
be  accepted  by  the  theological  school  as  qualifying  in  part  for  the 
theological  degree."  For  each  man  can  formulate  for  himself  a 
course  which,  in  his  opinion,  ought  to  be  the  typical  one,  even 
though  he  is  obliged  to  admit  that  his  theory  does  not  conform  to 
the  present  facts.  A  second  difficulty  comes  from  the  fact  that  the 
theological  course  is  also  undergoing  a  process  of  evolution,  and  that 
a  goodly  number  of  subjects  which  are  likely  to  enter  into  the  theo- 
logical curriculum  during  the  next  decade  are  not  yet  generally  rec- 
ognized as  a  part  of  it.  And  the  third  difficulty  lies  in  the  fact 
that  a  large  number  of  theological  schools,  in  fact  the  majority  of 
them,  are  not  yet  prepared  to  say  that  they  will  refuse  to  admit 
as  candidates  for  graduation  men  who  have  not  yet  acquired  the 
bachelor's  degree.  And  when  they  insist  upon  its  equivalent  they 
are  very  liberal  in  their  interpretations. 

Bearing  in  mind,  therefore,  these  necessary  limitations,  I  would 
say:  First,  that  certain  subjects  forming  a  part  of  the  theological 
curriculum  in  schools  which  do  not  insist  upon  the  college  degree 
from  candidates  for  admission,  might,  with  great  advantage,  be  trans- 
ferred from  the  theological  school  to  the  college.  Such  subjects 
are  Ethics,  Logic,  Rhetoric.  Psychology,  the  History  of  Philosophy, 

84 


and  the  necessary  linguistic  preparation  for  the  theological  course 
in  German  and  Greek.  For  I  take  it  that  it  is  no  longer  possible 
to  train  men  successfully  for  the  ministry  of  religion  in  a  modern 
theological  school,,  without  demanding  from  them  the  capacity  to  deal 
at  first  hand  with  the  work  of  German  theologians.  All  these  sub- 
jects are  obviously  necessary  in  the  theological  curriculum,  but  as 
they  all  may  be  said  to  form  also  a  part  of  the  typical  college  course, 
I  think  it  will  generally  be  admitted  that  the  better  place  for  teach- 
ing them  is  in  the  college  rather  than  the  seminary. 

I  have  the  same  feeling  about  Hebrew  as  about  the  other  lin- 
guistic studies.  Hebrew,  in  my  judgment,  does  not  naturally  belong 
in  the  theological  school.  The  proper  place  for  the  study  of  lan- 
guage is  in  the  college,  and  Hebrew  has  been  transferred  from 
the  college  to  the  seminary  only  because  the  demand  for  the  teach- 
ing of  Hebrew  in  the  college  has  up  to  the  present  time  been  very 
limited.  The  revival  of  interest,  however,  in  Semitic  languages  in  our 
own  country  is,  I  hope,  an  indication  that  many  colleges  will  soon 
be  prepared  to  do  successfully  what  some  of  the  larger  ones  are  now 
doing.  The  theological  school  would  be  left  free  by  virtue  of  such 
a  substitution  to  enlarge  and  enrich  its  curriculum  by  means  of  sub- 
jects which  bear  directly  upon  the  life  and  work  of  the  ministry. 

I  now  come  to  a  group  of  subjects  whose  place  in  the  theological 
curriculum  has  not  yet  been  universally  recognized,  but  which  will 
have  more  and  more  to  do  with  the  work  of  the  modern  ministry.  The 
first  of  these  is  Sociology,  a  subject  which  is  entering  into  the  work  of 
the  church  in  our  day  as  it  has  not  entered  since  the  time  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets.  The  significance  of  this  study  for  the  work  of  the 
minister  would,  I  think,  be  generally  recognized,  for  it  comprises 
spheres  of  activity  into  which  most  ministers  of  religion  are  bound 
at  some  time  in  their  lives  to  come.  The  relations  of  men  to  one 
another  in  society,  the  great  subjects  of  philanthropy  and  charity — 
these  and  allied  themes  have  come  in  recent  times  pretty  near  to 
the  center  of  the  modern  ecclesiastical  stage. 

Another  subject  to  which  attention  is  now  given  in  some  of 
our  schools  of  theology  as  never  before  is  English  literature,  and  espe- 
cially modern  English  poetry  in  its  ethical  and  ideal  aspects.  In  these 
aspects  poetry  is  coming  to  be  recognized  as  the  hand-maid  of  re- 
ligion, and  poetry  in  the  sense  in  which  Matthew  Arnold  defined 
it  as  "a  criticism  of  life,"  is,  it  seems  to  me,  intimately  connected 
with  the  work  of  the  Christian  preacher.  Perhaps  this  study  may 
not  yet  be  declared  to  have  gained  a  permanent  place  for  itself  in 


the  theological  curriculum.  But  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  will  gain 
such  a  place  in  a  comparatively  short  time.  Now,  it  has  to  be  ad- 
mitted that  the  college  is  the  normal  place  for  the  study  of  literature, 
and  when  the  college  is  willing  to  study  literature  from  the  point 
of  view  which  I  have  named,  it  may  perhaps  successfully  relieve 
the  seminary  of  this  work. 

I  pass  now  to  two  important  lines  of  study  which  are  compar- 
atively new  as  yet,  both  in  the  seminary  and  in  the  college,  but 
which  are,  in  my  judgment,  destined  to  assume  a  commanding  place 
in  the  work  of  both.  The  first  of  these  is  the  study  of  Anthropology. 
A  few  of  our  larger  institutions  of  learning  have  already  given  it  a 
place  in  their  scheme  of  studies.  It  belongs  properly  to  the  col- 
lege, but  if  the  college  continues  to  neglect  its  duty,  the  seminary 
must  step  in  to  remedy  the  defect.  The  school  of  theology  can  not 
successfully  deal  with  the  destiny  of  man  in  his  ideal  possibilities 
and  continue  to  neglect  his  past.  Too  long  has  religion  been  taught 
as  something  separate  from  and  unconnected  with  the  ordinary  life 
of  man.  Eeligion  must  be  taught  in  the  future  as  a  human  phe- 
nomenon which  results  from  man  functioning  religiously,  and  the 
religious  phenomena  of  the  race  must  be  set  forth  as  beginning  with 
the  very  dawn  of  human  history.  The  study  of  Anthropology  deals 
with  man  in  his  development  as  an  individual,  as  a  social,  as  a 
tribal,  and  as  a  religious  being.  These  phenomena  are  inseparably 
connected  throughout  his  history.  In  our  theological  schools,  as  well 
as  in  our  colleges,  we  have  done  our  best  to  divorce  them.  If  the 
college  is  to  hold  its  place  as  an  institution  which  is  able  to  offer  a 
really  liberal  education,  it  must  enter,  in  dealing  with  the  science 
of  man,  the  religious  field. 

And  the  time  will  come,  in  my  judgment,  when  it  will  be  forced 
in  pursuing  the  science  of  man  to  approach  religion  from  its  cos- 
mological  as  well  as  from  its  anthropological  side.  The  study  of 
Anthropology,  I  have  tried  to  point  out,  involves  the  study  of  the 
science  of  religion.  It  involves  in  one  of  its  aspects  the  study  of 
comparative  religions;  it  must  involve  also  in  its  higher  form  the 
philosophy  of  religion  itself,  as  one  of  the  forms  of  human  activity. 

The  second  of  these  fields  is  that  of  Education,  sometimes  oppro- 
briously  designated  as  pedagogy.  It  is  only  recently  that  some  far- 
sighted  men  have  discerned  the  fact  that  education  uses  the  same 
methods  in  the  sphere  of  religion  as  in  other  spheres.  The  North- 
western University,  through  the  splendid  work  of  Professor  Coe, 
has  been  a  pioneer  in  this  realm.  The  results  of  its  work  should 


be  studied,  not  only  by  the  college  but  also  by  the  seminary,  for  it 
is  along  these  lines  that  the  teaching  of  religion  and  the  work  of 
the  church  are  likely  to  be  transformed.  The  numerous  phenomena 
of  adolescence  to  which  Professor  Coe  has  called  attention,  must 
become  familiar  in  the  future  to  the  man  who  is  to  deal  success- 
fully with  the  religious  education  of  the  youth.  It  remains  for 
the  college  to  say,  however,  whether  this  work  is  to  be  done  chiefly 
by  it  or  by  the  seminary. 

It  is  one  of  the  evil  effects  of  the  sectarian  spirit  that  the  teach- 
ing of  religion  has  been  under  the  ban  so  largely  in  the  public  school 
and  in  the  state  university.  If  my  contention  is  correct,  the  ban 
must  sooner  or  later  be  raised.  What  God  has  joined  together  no 
institution  of  learning  can  permanently  part  asunder.  The  exclu- 
sion of  the  study  of  the  English  Bible,  the  most  important  and  most 
epoch-making  work  of  literature  in  the  world,  from  the  school  and 
the  university,  simply  because  of  sectarian  rivalry,  is  a  reproach 
to  the  age  in  which  we  live.  The  time  is  coming,  and  coming  soon, 
when  the  Bible  will  be  taught  in  the  college,  when  it  will  be  taught 
by  modern  methods  and  set  over  against  its  historic  background,  to 
the  end  that  the  one-sided  instruction  in  literature  and  history 
which  is  now  given  may,  in  some  degree,  be  remedied.  It  will  also 
be  clearly  seen  that  ecclesiastical  history  is  but  a  chapter  in  uni- 
versal history  which  the  college  may  not  ignore  with  impunity.  In 
the  middle  ages  the  history  of  the  church  was  the  history  of  civili- 
zation. 

It  will  be  clear,  I  think,  from  what  I  have  said  that,  in  my  judg- 
ment, there  is  limitless  possibility  of  cooperation  between  the  college 
and  the  theological  school,  one  of  the  results  of  which  may  well 
be  the  shortening  of  the  total  time  required  for  graduation.  Here 
the  theological  school  stands  in  a  peculiar  relation  to  the  college, 
for  I  hasten  to  add  that  the  ministry  is  not  a  profession  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  Law  and  Medicine  are  professions.  The  min- 
ister of  modern  times  is  simply  a  liberally  educated  man,  with  an 
invincible  purpose  to  incarnate  in  human  life  certain  moral  and  spir- 
itual ideas  which  he  shares  with  his  fellow  men.  With  the  passing 
of  the  priestly  conception  of  religion  there  has  ceased  to  be  a  body 
of  esoteric  information,  into  which  the  minister  must  be  initiated. 
He  must,  of  course,  be  a  specialist  in  the  things  of  the  spirit,  just 
as  the  man  who  is  to  teach  Mathematics  must  specialize  in  that  line 
of  study,  and  he  must  also  acquire  certain  information  about  methods 
of  work  and  forms  of  parish  activity  in  which  he  is  to  be  engaged; 


87 


he  must  receive  instruction  in  Homiletics,  must  learn  the  art  of 
preaching,  must  acquire  the  ability  to  persuade  and  to  instruct.     In 
other  words,  the  theological  school  must  continue  to   retain   as   a 
part  of  its  special  curriculum,  which  it  is  not  likely  for  some  time 
to  come  to  hand  over  to  the  college,  the  department  of  Homiletics 
and  pastoral  care  or  practical  theology.     Some  of  the  subjects  which 
I  have  named  as  desirable  in  a  college  course,  will,  perhaps,  not  re- 
ceive general  attention  there  for  some  years  to  come.     Meantime,  the 
seminary  must  continue  to  remedy  the  deficiency;  but  that  a  shorten- 
ing of  the  theological  course  is  entirely  practicable  along  the  lines 
which  I  have  suggested  can  not,  I  think,  be  a  matter  of   doubt. 
Meantime  it  is,  of  course,  obvious  that  certain  subjects  now  taught 
in  the  seminary  are  not  likely  to  prove  immediately  popular  in  the 
college.     This  may  be  said,  I  suppose,  of  such  themes  as  Christian 
Doctrine,  Old  and  New  Testament  Theology,  the  Religion  of  Israel, 
Biblical  Exegesis  and  Archaeology,  Hermenetics,  Textual  Criticism, 
and  the  History  of  the  Apostolic  Age.     The  seminary  will  continue 
to  be  the  place  where  such  themes  as  Symbolics,  the  History  of  Mis- 
sions,   Apologetics,    Patristics,   Liturgies,    Sunday    School    Methods, 
Church  Polity  and  Denominational  History  are  exclusively  taught, 
and  with  the  relegation  of  certain  elementary  subjects  to  the  college, 
there  will  be  an  ever-increasing  field  which  the  seminary  can  make 
peculiarly  its  own.     But  with  the  appearance  of  a  set  of  men  in 
the  pulpits  of  America,  liberally  educated  in  accordance  with  mod- 
ern methods,  not  simply  in  the  few  themes  which  have  been  too 
long  regarded  as  separate  from  the  normal  functions  of  human  life, 
but  in  the  deep  and  fundamental  problems,  interest  in  which  the 
minister  shares  with  educated  men  of  every  profession,  we  may  look 
for  a  new  and  more  hopeful  era  of  Christian  activity. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

I  will  now  appoint  the  following  committee  to  report  tomorrow 
morning  at  half  past  ten  o'clock  on  the  advisability  of  forming  a  defi- 
nite organization,  and  if  in  their  judgment  it  is  wise,  to  present 
a  definite  plan  of  organization: 

CHAIRMAN,  PRESIDENT  JOHN  F.  GOUCHER, 

Woman's  College,  Baltimore.  Md. 
PRESIDENT  EDWARD  D.  EATON, 
Beloit  College,  Beloit,  Wis. 
PRESIDENT  W.  C.  EGBERTS, 

Central  University,  Danville,  Ky. 

88 


PRESIDENT  RICHARD  HARLAN, 

Lake  Forest  College,  Lake  Forest,  111. 
DR.  CHARLES  E.  ST.  JOHN, 

Oberlin  College,  Oberlin,  Ohio. 
PRESIDENT  W.  B.  BOGERS, 

St.  Louis  University,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
VICE-PRESIDENT  FRANCIS  CASSILLY, 

St.  Ignatius  College^  Chicago,  111. 

The  discussion  of  this  subject  will  be  taken  up  by  President 
Charles  J.  Little,  of  Garrett  Biblical  Institute. 

PRESIDENT  LITTLE  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  Pro  Christo  et  Ecdesia,  the  founders  of  Har- 
vard College  chose  for  their  motto,  which  they  interpreted,  "This 
is  a  school  for  the  training  of  ministers."  The  Cambridge  Divinity 
School  once  so  famous  is  now  the  meager  remnant  of  what  was  origi- 
nally the  whole  thing.  The  following  curriculum  of  the  earlier  Har- 
vard makes  this  plain  enough. 

The  course  included  two  years  of  Logic  and  something  of  Physics ; 
two  of  Ethics  and  Politics;  two  of  Mathematics  (including,  however, 
only  Arithmetic  and  Geometry)  the  equivalent  of  four  years  of  Greek, 
and  one  year  each  of  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and  Syriac.  Latin  was  ex- 
cluded as  something  that  must  have  been  mastered  before  entrance,  its 
conversational  use  being  obligatory  upon  all  within  the  limits  of  the 
college  in  place  of  the  mother  tongue,  which  was  "to  be  used  under  no 
pretext  whatever,  unless  required  in  public  exercises."  The  Bible  was 
systematically  studied  for  the  entire  three  years,  Ezra,  Daniel  and  the 
New  Testament  being  specified.  A  year  was  given  to  catechetical 
divinity.  Daily  prayers  must  be  attended  "at  six  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing and  five  o'clock  at  night  all  the  year  long" ;  at  which  time  students 
were  required  "to  read  some  portion  of  the  Old  Testament  out  of 
Hebrew  into  Greek,  and  the  New  Testament  out  of  English  into  Greek, 
after  which  one  of  the  Bachelors  or  Sophisters  should  logically 
analyse  that  which  was  read." 

Concerning  degrees  it  was  ordered  that  "every  scholar  that  on 
proof  is  found  able  to  read  the  originals  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment into  the  Latin  tongue,  and  to  resolve  them  logically;  withal  be- 
ing of  Godly  life  and  conversation;  and  at  any  public  act  hath  the 
approbation  of  the  overseers  and  master  of  the  College,  is  fit  to  be  dig- 
nified with  his  first  degree." 


The  College  of  William  and  Mary  was  to  be  "a  seminary  for  the 
breeding  of  good  ministers"  to  which  the  grammar  school  and  the 
school  of  philosophy  including  Mathematics  were  auxiliary  and  sub- 
ordinate. Yale  was  founded  "to  preserve  orthodoxy  in  the  govern- 
ment" and  the  early  students  were  saturated  with  theology.  The  pre- 
dominant purpose  was  to  make  orthodox  ministers  and  orthodox 
citizens. 

Every  American  college  established  by  a  religious  denomination 
looked  to  the  same  end.  Thus  it  happens  that  in  every  one  of  them 
remain  vestigial  studies,  survivals  of  this  older  order  though  no  one  of 
them  adheres  to  its  original  intent.  Mr.  Lowell's  suggestion  that 
Harvard  is  still  true  to  its  ancient  motto  is  not  without  a  dash  of  pun- 
gent irony  even  for  the  most  liberal  interpreter.  The  divinity  school 
still  exists  in  connection  with  universities  now  classed  by  their  own 
desire  as  non-sectarian;  but  it  is  a  disenthroned  monarch,  tolerated 
and  cherished  generously  to  be  sure  but  no  longer  supreme  or  even 
conspicuous.  And  what  is  more  important  in  this  discussion,  the 
colleges  of  liberal  arts  are  not  preparing  men  for  the  theological  sem- 
inary or  indeed  for  any  of  the  professions.  The  colleges  have  shifted 
ground.  They  defended  the  old  classical  curriculum  because  (so  they 
declared)  certain  studies  were  essential  to  mental  discipline;  there  is 
(they  affirmed)  a  training  which  is  a  prerequisite  to  any  and  every  call- 
ing in  which  rapid  and  accurate  thinking  and  effective  expression  are 
required.  But  they  have  abandoned  the  old  curriculum;  in  its  place 
they  offer  a  large  range  of  studies  and  degrees  from  which  the  student 
selects  according  to  his  own  sweet  will  and  they  defend  the  new  curri- 
culum by  declaring  that  they  are  developing  manhood.  To  make  mat- 
ters worse,  the  line  between  undergraduate  and  post-graduate  studies 
differs  with  each  institution.  A  graphic  representation  of  it  for  the 
colleges  of  the  United  States  would  be  an  instructive  although  a  some- 
what diverting  exhibition.  For  what  some  of  the  strongest  of  our  uni- 
versities treat  as  post-graduate  studies,  some  of  the  weaker  ones  require 
of  undergraduates.  If  the  college  of  liberal  arts  is  not  to  be  crushed 
out  between  the  high  school  and  the  university,  it  must,  in  my  judg- 
ment, consider  carefully  its  relation  to  both ;  it  must  surrender  to  the 
professional  school  and  to  the  university  all  that  belong  to  them ;  it 
must  abandon  glittering  generalities  and  frame  very  definite  ideals  of 
liberal  culture;  it  must  do  something  also  to  facilitate  an  earlier 
entrance  into  active  life.  The  post-graduate  university  and  profes- 
sional school  are  here  to  stay,  and  here  to  grow.  Each  year  is  making 
them  more  important  and  more  exacting  in  their  demands.  Let  no 

oo 


one  deceive  himself.  Underneath  all  this  discussion  is  the  competi- 
tion for  students,  and  the  desire  of  the  colleges  to  hold  them  too  long 
will  be  only  less  disastrous  than  the  eagerness  to  get  them  too  soon. 

Turning  now  to  the  theological  seminaries,  one  sees  the  curri- 
culum disturbed  by  conflicting  tendencies.  Sometimes  the  post- 
graduate ideal  predominates  and  the  classical  diploma  is  a  prerequisite 
for  admission ;  at  other  times  the  divinity  school  is  controlled  by  the 
demands  of  the  churches  for  efficient  pastors  and  efficient  missionaries ; 
then  the  doors  are  opened  wider  and  the  utilitarian  training  discredits 
erudition.  And  so  we  have  the  incompatibles  under  the  same  roof: 
an  arena  for  the  discussion  of  intricate  philosophical,  theological,  and 
historical  problems;  a  training  camp  for  the  defenders  and  propa- 
gators of  definite  truths. 

The  introduction  of  Assyrian,  the  absorption  of  Exegesis  by 
higher  criticism,  the  interpretation  of  Philosophy  and  Theology,  are 
results  of  the  one  tendency ;  the  increased  attention  given  to  Elocution 
and  Sociology,  of  the  other.  And  until  the  divinity  school  clears  up 
its  mind  and  determines  whether  it  will  develop  scholars  or  train  min- 
isters or  attempt  to  combine  the  theologian  and  the  pastor  in  one  per- 
son we  shall  make  no  progress  in  this  discussion.  Latin  and  Greek  and 
Hebrew  and  German  are  indispensable  to  the  theological  scholar;  the 
college  teaches  three  of  them,  sometimes  four.  The  divinity  school 
teaches  Hebrew  chiefly  because  the  colleges  do  not  and  Greek  may  some 
day  be  in  the  same  case.  The  divinity  school  requires  Psychology  and 
History  and  Sociology ;  these  too  may  be  taught  in  the  colleges.  Let 
the  divinity  school  recognize  its  duplex  character;  let  it  establish  two 
courses,  a  course  in  ministerial  training  and  a  course  in  theological 
science,  prescribing  in  detail  that  which  it  requires  for  each.  Then 
whenever  strictly  undergraduate  work  is  included  in  the  theological 
curriculum  work  done  in  college  can  be  readily  accepted.  For  my 
part  I  would  much  rather  admit  to  a  theological  course,  one  well 
acquainted  with  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  German,  who  is  also  well  trained 
in  Logic  and  History  and  who  has  confronted  the  chief  problems  of 
Ethics  and  Sociology,  than  the  bachelor  of  arts  proficient  in  none  of 
them. 

But  as  to  post-graduate  studies  that  are  taught  in  the  colleges, 
there  is  this  difficulty.  Most  of  our  theological  seminaries  are  credal 
seminaries.  They  have  definite  standards  which  as  honest  men  their 
professors  must  maintain.  It  may  be  said  and  has  been  said  that  the 
credal  seminary  ought  not  to  exist.  That  proposition  I  do  not  care  to 
argue.  These  credal  schools  are  here  and  will  remain  here  for  a  long 

91 


time.  If  the  colleges  expect  to  prepare  students  for  them  this  quality 
must  be  recognized  and  respected.  Yet  under  the  guise  of  the  Phil- 
osophy of  Eeligion  or  of  Semitic  Literature  or  of  History  an  active 
propaganda  is  sometimes  carried  on  against  the  teachings  of  these 
x;redal  seminaries.  To  accept  work  of  this  kind,  is  to  give  it  endorse- 
ment. This  we  can  not  do.  On  the  contrary  we  are  obliged  to  discuss 
these  problems  from  our  own  point  of  view  and  not  unfrequently  to 
combat  the  propositions  with  which  certain  college  men  are  enamored. 

As  to  the  non-credal  seminaries,  the  university  should  absorb 
them.  They  have  no  claim  to  a  separate  existence.  To  them  Chris- 
tianity is  after  all  but  a  phase  of  history,  and  religious  experience  but  a 
psychological  phenomenon,,  complex,,  and  bewildering;  as  history  and 
psychology  belong  to  the  university,  Christianity  and  religion  upon 
this  assumption  must  go  there  too. 

Nor  would  this  be  without  its  compensations.  For  the  churches 
would  doubtless  gain  for  their  pulpits  many  a  student,  who  after  prose- 
cuting his  researches  under  acknowledged  masters  of  differing  schools, 
accepted  gladly  the  opportunity  to  proclaim  and  to  apply  such  truth 
as  he  had  grasped  and  held  firmly.  The  universities,  on  the  other 
hand,  would  become  catholic  and  comprehensive.  Instead  of  maintain- 
ing a  theological  annex,  which  under  the  guise  of  free  inquiry,  propo- 
gates  a  provincialism,  its  staff  would  be  enriched  with  powerful  and 
learned  theologians,  checking  and  complementing  each  other,  and 
rounding  out  their  separate  investigations  into  concordant,  although 
imperfect  knowledge. 

For  such  a  university  the  particular  question  before  us  will  be 
swallowed  up  in  the  larger  one;  upon  what  conditions  shall  students 
be  admitted  to  post-graduate  study  ?  Possibly  when  we  have  a  genuine 
university  it  will  adhere  to  the  German  precedent  and  demand  of  all 
students  the  same  preparation.  But  I  do  not  believe  it.  I  am  bold 
enough  to  prophesy  that  not  only  the  great  professional  schools  of 
the  future  (I  include,  of  course,  the  schools  of  technology)  but  each 
department  of  the  post-graduate  university  will  describe  in  detail  the 
knowledge  that  it  requires  of  those  that  are  to  be  admitted  to  its  work. 
Some  of  these  requirements  will  be  common  to  all  the  schools  and  de- 
partments ;  some  of  them  will  be  peculiar  to  each  great  discipline. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  discussion  will  be  continued  by  Professor  A.  T.  Robertson,  of 
the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary. 

02 


PROFESSOR  ROBERTSON: 

The  general  difficulties  of  the  situation  that  we  are  discussing  are 
somewhat  accented  in  the  institution  with  which  I  have  the  honor  to 
be  connected — the  Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  of  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky.  We  have  a  distinct  elective  system.  All  of  our 
studies  are  elective.  They  have  always  been  so  since  1859;  but  they 
are  not  elective  in  the  sense  that  you  can  take  some  of  them  for  the 
degree  and  not  the  others.  You  have  to  take  all  of  our  courses  to  get 
our  full  degree,  but  you  can  take  them  in  the  order  you  wish.  So  that 
we  do  not  have  first,  second,  and  third  years.  We  lay,  then,  no 
accent  upon  the  question  of  time :  we  put  it  all  on  the  matter  of  work. 
As  to  entrance  into  our  institution,  we  have  had  some  difficulty  on 
that  line  as  to  the  acceptance  of  work  even  of  other  seminaries.  It 
has  only  been  within  the  last  two  years,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  that  we 
have  been  willing  to  accept  work  from  other  institutions  because  we 
had  difficulty  in  fitting  their  work  to  ours.  But  we  have  finally  done 
it,  that  is  to  say,  we  have  decided  that  our  institution  can  take  work 
from  other  seminaries  and  institutions  at  the  discretion  of  the  profes- 
sor who  has  charge  of  that  special  department.  He  subjects  the  stu- 
dent to  some  kind  of  an  examination,  and  if  the  work  is  satisfactory, 
credit  will  be  given  to  that  extent,  but  no  further,  and  while  the  ques- 
tion has  many  difficulties,  some  from  every  standpoint,  we  are  rid  of  a 
great  many  of  them.  However,  I  would  add  we  do  not  do  any  college 
work  at  all  so  that  the  remarks  of  preceding  speakers  do  not  bear  upon 
us.  We  do  simply  theological  seminary  work. 

Now,  I  am  willing  to  admit  that  the  college  can  do  some  work 
which  we  can  recognize,  as  for  instance  the  beginning  work  in  New 
Testament  Greek  and  the  beginning  work  in  Hebrew.  We  have  some 
students  who  come  to  us  who  have  studied  some  New  Testament  Greek 
and  some  Hebrew  and  we  take  that  work,  if  they  are  able  to  stand  our 
tests.  We  will  not  take  their  work  just  because  they  have  been  over  it. 
As  to  the  rest,  the  general  study  of  the  Bible,  Biblical  History,  1  am 
not  so  clear,  because  the  question  of  exegesis  inevitably  comes  in.  We 
are  concerned  in  our  seminary,  and  I  judge  other  seminaries  are,  about 
the  matter  of  exegesis.  Other  seminaries  ought  to  be  concerned,  if 
they  are  not,  if  they  have  a  creed,  because  a  creed  is  what  a  man  be- 
lieves. If  they  are  not  concerned  they  ought  to  be  absorbed,  if  there  is 
anything  left  to  be  absorbed.  On  that  point  there  is  not  much  that  the 
seminary  can  do  in  the  way  of  concession.  The  Bible  courses  in  the 
average  college  serve  more  as  introduction  to  the  theological  work 
than  as  preparation.  I  will  confess  that  not  many  students  are  afflicted 

03 


with  too  great  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible.     So  we  admit  the  principle 
of  acceptance  of  work  but  are  very  strict  in  the  application  of  it. 

I  do  not  believe  it  is  best  to  attempt  to  crowd  the  theological  into 
the  college  course.  It  seemed  to  me  from  the  preceding  discussion 
that  the  college  course  is  likely  to  be  reduced  to  three  years ;  yet  here 
you  will  crowd  the  theological  course  in  also.  I  think  if  you  are  going 
to  compress  the  college  course  that  you  will  not  want  to  put  very  much 
theology  into  it.  At  least  you  will  not  be  able  to.  Let  us  leave  the 
time  for  the  general  training.  Let  the  student  finish  his  college  work 
before  he  goes  to  the  seminary  rather  than  mix  the  two.  I  believe  the 
best  results  come  from  doing  one  line  of  work  at  a  time.  It  is  better 
to  have  the  college  before  the  theological  work  than  with  it.  It  is  bet- 
ter to  have  the  theological  work  apart  from  medicine  than  with  it.  We 
have  some  students  in  Louisville  who  take  Theology  in  the  morning 
and  Medicine  in  the  afternooon.  What  they  take  at  night  I  do  not 
know.  They  get  very  little  of  either.  The  crowding  of  the  high 
school  makes  it  possible  sometimes  to  take  the  college  work  in  less 
than  four  years.  We  shall  have,  I  believe,  a  clearly  defined  system 
of  education  when  the  university  becomes  well  defined.  Now,  let 
the  college  persuade  the  university  to  give  up  college  work.  If  we 
laugh  at  the  high  school  that  classes  itself  as  a  college  we  laugh  at  the 
college  that  classes  itself  as  a  university.  Is  the  university  a  genuine 
university  if  the  bulk  of  its  work  is  college  work  ?  We  need  a  defini- 
tion of  a  university.  President  Eliot  of  Harvard  calls  Johns  Hopkins 
"the  leading  university  of  our  country,"  because  it  made  a  new  epoch 
as  to  graduate  work,  but  even  Johns  Hopkins  still  does  some  college 
work.  Where  can  the  college  work  best  be  done?  In  the  college  or 
university  ?  If  in  the  college,  then  the  university  should  make  conces- 
sions to  the  college  and  not  try  to  drive  it  to  the  wall.  We  shall  clear 
the  way  in  American  education  if  we  have  first  the  high  school  or  sec- 
ondary school  work,  then  the  college  work,  and  third  the  graduate 
work,  either  in  the  university  or  professional  school.  I  believe  there  is 
room  enough  both  for  the  university  professional  schools  and  for  the 
independent  professional  schools.  Here  also  the  work  of  the  high 
school  and  college  should  precede.  If  that  is  done  there  will  be  little 
need  of  concessions  as  to  curricula.  The  college  has  given  room  for 
the  high  school,  and  the  university  should  also  give  room  for  the  col- 
lege, if  it  is  a  real  university.  It  should  leave  college  work  to  the 
college.  The  college  can  well  afford  to  let  graduate  and  professional 
work  alone  if  the  university  will  let  college  work  alone. 

94 


All  this  applies  to  my  topic  thus:  I  think  that  the  theological 
seminary  should  teach  the  work  belonging  to  it  and  the  college  should 
teach  the  college  work.  I  think  the  Law  professor  who  gives  himself 
specifically  to  that  subject  can  do  better  legal  teaching,  and  so  can  the 
teacher  of  Medicine,  and  so  can  the  teacher  of  Theology,  and  the 
teacher  of  Chemistry  also.  I  fail  to  see  the  ethics  of  the  situation 
when  we  ask  the  college  to  make  all  the  concessions.  To  be  sure  the 
theological  school  does  not  ask  the  college  to  make  any,  nor  are  we  in  a 
particularly  wholesome  humor  to  make  any.  Let  us  stand  for  our- 
selves. The  theological  seminary  takes  the  work  where  the  college 
leaves  it  and  has  little  reason  to  alter  its  course  of  study. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  next  address  will  be  given  by  Dean  John  H.  Wigmore,  of  the 
Northwestern  University  Law  School. 

DEAN  WIGMORE  : 

Mr.  Chairman ;  Members  of  the  Conference :  Owing  to  the  late- 
ness of  the  hour  I  will  spare  you  any  extended  description  of  our  creed. 
All  our  faculty  believe,  in  the  first  place,  that  there  must  be  three  years 
spent  in  the  study  of  the  technical  subjects  of  the  Law ;  that  even  these 
three  years  do  not  give  the  young  lawyer  all  he  might  well  know; 
that  those  three  years — that  is  to  say  taking  substantially  all  of  his 
time  as  a  student  during  that  period — represent  only  about  three- 
fourths  of  the  subjects  which  he  might  well  have  covered ;  that  he  goes 
out  to  the  bar  knowing  at  least  one-fourth  less  than  he  might  well  have 
known.  There  is  absolutely  no  disposition  on  the  part  of  our  faculty 
— and  I  think  it  represents  the  feeling  of  a  great  many  faculties  of 
the  country — towards  any  substitution  whatsoever  on  the  part  of  those 
three  years,  or  towards  the  admission  of  any  other  subjects  than  legal 
subjects.  The  question  then  remains,  What  is  a  legal  subject?  What 
is  a  subject  especially  useful  for  a  lawyer,  for  a  professional  man,  as 
one  skilled  in  that  specific  profession  or  art,  as  distinct  from  a  subject 
which  helps  him  as  a  man  and  a  citizen?  A  subject  which  usually 
ought  to  count  in  a  legal  curriculum  must  possess  two  elements.  It 
must  furnish  a  certain  kind  of  information ;  and  it  must  help  to  culti- 
vate in  the  student  a  legal  method  of  thinking. 

Furthermore,  this  work  ought  to  be  done  for  him  by  lawyers ;  but 
that  point  we  may  waive,  because  no  large  amount  of  legal  work  is 
likely  to  be  attempted  in  the  college  except  by  lawyers.  The  question 
is,  then,  what  subjects  are  there,  usually  offered  in  college,  which  can 
be  counted  in  that  list?  There  are  only  three:  constitutional  law, 


international  law  and  administrative  law.  Constitutional  law  when 
taught  in  a  college  may  properly  be  credited  in  law  school,  provided  it 
is  not  merely  constitutional  history,  and  provided  it  is  studied  in  the 
legal  decisions  with  which  a  lawyer  must  be  familiar.  Our  habit  has 
been  to  give  credit  for  such  a  course  when  it  has  been  taught  from  the 
legal  decisions  and  not  to  give  credit  when  it  is  not  so  taught,  and  to 
make  no  discrimination  between  our  own  honored  college  and  the  col- 
leges of  other  universities.  We,  therefore,  do  not  recognize  the  sub- 
ject of  administrative  law.  We  do  not  believe  that  a  lawyer  needs  to 
know  any  more  of  administrative  law  than  anybody  else  in  a  good  gov- 
ernment. The  ordinary  man  should  study  it  as  a  citizen,  not  merely  as 
a  lawyer.  There  are,  to  be  sure,  colleges  giving  a  course  in  adminis- 
trative law,  so-called,  which  really  is  a  course  in  the  legal  aspect  of 
the  functions  of  public  officers;  and  for  such  study  we  should  give 
credit.  It  seems  to  me,  then,  on  the  whole,  that  it  would  be  im- 
proper for  those  who  have  in  their  guardianship  the  interests  of  the 
legal  profession,  in  certifying  that  a  man  is  properly  and  adequately 
trained  for  the  profession  of  the  Law,  to  give  credit  for  subjects  which 
are  not  distinctly  technical  and  professional.  I  think  that  represents 
what  the  advanced  schools  believe  in  regard  to  giving  credit  in  the  law 
school  for  work  in  college.  I  speak  without  regard  to  the  question 
of  shortening  the  requirements  for  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

Dr.  R.  McE.  Schauffler,  of  the  Kansas  City  Medical  College  will 
present  the  next  paper. 

DR.  SCHAUFFLER: 

Mr.  Chairman ;  Gentlemen :  I  was  very  much  surprised  when  I 
came  here  this  morning  to  find  that  I  was  put  down  for  a  formal  paper, 
and  could  not  understand  it  at  all  until  I  looked  over  the  list  of  dele- 
gates, and  as  far  as  I  can  discover,  I  am  the  only  delegate  from  an 
independent  school.  It  appears  that  the  rest  all  took  to  the  tall  tim- 
ber. I  was  too  young  to  do  so.  While  I  come  here  to  represent  an 
independent  medical  college  in  Kansas  City,  I  come  of  old  New  Eng- 
land and  New  York  in  my  own  education,  and  having  a  bachelor's 
degree  from  Williams  I  can  not  stand  here  before  you  without  giving 
my  testimony  as  to  my  appreciation  of  that  degree.  My  time  was  not 
wasted.  My  medical  work  was  done  in  Columbia.  Now,  President 
Butler  thinks  it  is  economically  impossible  and  from  the  standpoint  of 
social  service  unwise  to  require  a  bachelor's  degree  for  admission  to 
the  medical  school,  but  let  me  tell  you  how  it  works  out.  Although 


Columbia  does  not  make  it  a  rule  to  require  the  bachelor's  degree  for 
admission  to  the  medical  school,  one  quiz-master  there  says  that  no 
young  man  can  enter  his  class  who  is  not  a  college  graduate.  That 
quiz-master  takes  fifteen  men,  graduates  from  Yale  and  Princeton — he 
takes  those  fifteen  men  of  whom  a  bachelor's  degree  is  required,  and 
carries  out  good,  old-fashioned  methods  of  lecturing,  and  puts  those 
fifteen  men  into  the  field  against  the  other  graduates  of  Columbia, 
against  New  York  City  and  Harvard.  He  places  twelve  of  those 
fifteen  men  in  the  very  best  hospital  places  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
There  are  three  prizes.  All  three  of  these  prizes  are  limited  to  that 
fifteen  men  in  competition  with  a  class  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five. 
There  is  not  a  single  man  in  Columbia  of  the  short-cut  course  that  got 
one  of  these  prizes,  and  so  far  as  I  remember  even  got  one  of  the  hos- 
pital positions.  Thus  the  bachelor's  degree  in  Columbia  is  not  as 
much  discounted  on  the  face  of  it  as  would  seem. 

The  independent  medical  college  out  west  has  not  a  very  good 
reputation.  I  hope  to  stand  for  one  at  least  that  is  poor  but  honest. 
The  first  of  the  changes  which  have  come  about  in  recent  years 
is  the  discarding  of  the  idea  of  making  anything  from  an  independent, 
stock  company,  medical  college.  Everybody  who  knows  anything 
about  it  has  learned  that.  Consolidation  has  taken  place  and  has  put 
matters  on  a  different  basis.  Now,  we  are  not  complaining  about  uni- 
versity competition.  Of  course  we  feel  it  very  keenly.  It  has  put  us 
to  great  exertion  to  keep  our  laboratory  work  up  to  the  requirements ; 
still  we  have  not  been  forced  to  the  wall.  But  we  are  objecting  to  the 
university  competition  which  offers  to  throw  a  bachelor's  degree  on 
a  combination  course  to  students  who  will  come  to  its  medical  school. 
It  may  be  all  right  with  respect  to  the  college  course  but  that  is  the 
grievance  of  the  independent  medical  college. 

The  particular  question  which  I  am  asked  to  answer  here  is,  What 
subjects  in  the  college  courses  can  be  credited  in  the  medical  school  ? 
According  to  President  Butler's  definition  we  can't  give  credit  for  any 
of  them,  for  the  true  college  course  consists  of  Greek,  Latin,  Mathe- 
matics and  a  mixed  course  called  Natural  Philosophy.  But  as  the 
course  reads  today,  we  can  give  credit  for  Biology,  Histology,  for 
Chemistry,  for  Physics,  for  Botany,  and  for  elementary  Pharmacy. 
I  am  perfectly  sure  that  the  Biology  and  the  Histology  which  I  had 
at  Williams  was  superior  to  that  given  at  Columbia.  That  criticism, 
of  course,  is  a  few  years  old.  Now,  for  these  subjects  we  give  a  credit 
today  of  one  year  on  the  four-year  medical  course  if  the  student  has 
the  bachelor's  degree.  In  the  first  place  the  fellow  is  supposed  to  be 

97 


better  equipped.  That  works  fairly  well  in  the  East.  It  does  not 
work  very  well  in  the  West.  We  must  have  the  independent  medical 
school  for  a  while  yet,  but  the  process  is  to  get  rid  of  the  independent 
medical  school.  We  are  not  affiliated  because  there  is  no  large  school 
near  us.  The  time  may  come  when  we  will  be.  We  have  not  found  the 
giving  of  the  one  year's  credit  for  the  A.  B.  degree  very  satisfactory, 
because  it  is  not  strong  on  just  the  subjects  which  are  most  helpful. 
We  would  be  absolutely  swamped  if  we  tried  to  give  two  years'  credit 
for  the  A.  B.  degree.  On  the  other  hand  it  does  not  seem  to  be  very 
wise  for  us  to  be  making  alliances  with  the  colleges  around  us.  The 
trouble  with  the  western  medical  school  is  that  it  is  poor.  If  you  are 
trying  to  be  honest,  if  you  are  really  requiring  a  high  school  diploma 
as  entrance  requirement,  you  are  not  having  an  easy  time.  Of  course, 
you  can  make  all  sorts  of  alliances  with  the  small  colleges  around  you 
and  meet  the  university  competition  by  lowering  the  standard.  It  does 
not  seem  fair  all  around.  I  would  like  to  see  ultimately  two  years  in 
college  required  for  admission  to  the  medical  course.  We  can  not  have 
it  all  at  once.  I  would  like  to  see  no  credit  for  the  degree  per  se  but 
have  credit  given  for  specific  scientific  courses,  for  just  what  the  work 
really  amounts  to,  with  the  understanding  that  it  will  be  all  right  for 
a  man  to  come  to  us  from  college  with  enough  credit  to  get  one  year's 
credit.  It  is  true  that  it  will  be  wiser  for  him  to  come  after  two  years 
in  college. 

THE  CHAIKMAN: 

The  discussion  will  be  opened  by  Dr.  Arthur  R.  Edwards,  of  the 
Northwestern  University  Medical  School. 

DR.  EDWARDS  : 

Mr.  Chairman;  Gentlemen.  In  the  university  professional 
course,  both  in  the  course  itself  and  in  the  preparation  for  the  course, 
it  seems  possible  to  divide  the  study  into  two  parts,  one  in  preparation 
and  training  for  the  course  and  the  other  the  studies  which  bear  di- 
rectly upon  the  especial  technical  or  professional  course.  It  has 
seemed  to  me  from  contact  with  the  medical  students  that  there  is 
altogether  too  much  preparation  and  altogether  too  little  practical 
training  in  the  department  of  Medicine.  I  do  not  feel  free  to  speak 
so  dogmatically  regarding  the  other  departments,  but  I  think  that  con- 
dition would  apply  fairly  well  to  the  department  of  Law. 

My  first  proposition  is  that  there  should  be  some  way  in  which  a 
man  should  have  a  college  training,  should  have  the  discipline  which 
ought  to  precede  the  study  of  Medicine,  without  spending  as  long  a 

98 


time  as  is  now  necessary.  I  think  that  doctrine  is  true,  because  as 
time  goes  on  you  will  find  the  professional  courses  lengthening  rather 
than  shortening.  The  basis  for  my  position  on  this  particular  subject 
I  think  can  be  shown  by  going  over  the  amount  of  training  necessary 
for  a  man  to  take  a  medical  course  with  a  college  basis.  He  spends 
four  years  in  a  high  school ;  then  he  goes  to  the  college  for  four  years, 
making  eight  years;  then  he  goes  to  the  medical  school, and  of  the  four 
years  which  he  spends  there  two  years  are  taken  up  with  subjects 
which  are  not  directly  helpful  in  practicing  the  art  of  Medicine  or 
Surgery.  He  spends  two  years  on  Chemistry,  Anatomy,  and  Physi- 
ology with  miscellaneous  professional  training.  When  we  come  to 
summarize  the  work,  we  find  that  the  man  spends  four  years  in  high 
school,  four  in  college,  and  then  goes  to  the  medical  school  to  study 
Chemistry  and  Anatomy  and  subjects  scientific  rather  than  directly 
medical.  And  then  to  learn  to  diagnose  disease  and  get  some  of  the 
essential  points  in  treatment  he  has  but  two  years.  I  contend  that  this 
is  essentially  wrong.  Yet  I  would  not  take  the  position  that  a  man 
can  get  too  much  training.  I  think  some  of  the  minor  details  must  be 
modified.  If  Medicine  grows  in  the  next  ten  years  as  it  has  in  the  last, 
a  five  or  six  years'  course  will  be  absolutely  necessary.  Therefore,  it 
seems  to  me  that  instead  of  spending  ten  years  upon  his  preliminary 
preparation,  that  ten  years  must  be  made  to  overlap  the  practical 
course  so  that  we  will  have  at  least  three  years  for  Medicine  itself. 
We  should  regulate  the  training  and  modify  the  courses  in  such  a  way 
that  it  would  be  possible  for  a  student  to  reach  the  point  where  he  is 
capable  of  graduation  by  the  time  he  is  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of 
age.  The  better  men  will  go  into  the  hospitals  and  complete  their 
medical  education.  A  college  education  is  a  great  thing,  but  it  seems  to 
me  that  taking  into  consideration  all  the  physicians  who  are  graduat- 
ing from  medical  schools  and  going  into  all  parts  of  the  country,  both 
where  the  standards  are  low,  and  where  the  difficulties  are  great,  as 
well  as  those  who  are  to  stay  in  the  other  districts,  we  should  plan  to 
modify  somewhat  the  medical  courses  and  in  the  colleges  to  give  as 
many  elective  courses  as  possible  which  bear  directly  on  the  medical 
training. 

I  think  the  medical  student  who  enters  the  medical  college  should 
have  his  Chemistry — a  thorough  course  of  two  years  covering  prac- 
tically what  would  be  given  in  the  medical  course;  in  some  way  he 
should  have  secured  the  principles  of  Anatomy  and  Comparative 
Anatomy;  he  should  have  had  Histology — it  is  only  a  step  between 
structural  botany  and  structural  histology.  In  that  way  a  college 


course  could  easily  cover  sixty  to  eighty  per  cent  of  the  practical  work 
of  the  first  year  of  work  in  the  medical  school.  This  would  give  the 
student  of  Medicine  more  time  for  the  study  of  the  art  of  Medicine 
itself.  That  can  only  be  reached  by  limiting  the  total  number  of 
years  spent,  because  the  medical  course  is  bound  to  increase,  therefore, 
it  would  seem  that  the  college  with  the  professional  school  should 
so  plan  its  courses  that  students  can  shorten  their  combined  courses 
to  seven  or  eight  years.  I  agree  with  Dr.  Schauffler  in  his  position 
that  merely  because  a  man  has  the  degree  of  A.  B.  he  is  not  entitled 
to  have  a  year's  credit  in  the  medical  school.  He  is  only  entitled 
to  that  when  the  majority  of  the  subjects  in  the  first  year  have  been 
covered  by  his  previous  work. 

I  think  it  will  come  to  this:  The  college  must  teach  some  of 
those  sciences  which  are  directly  medical.  They  are  important  to  the 
average  man  of  intelligence.  The  medical  schools  should  take  recog- 
nition of  this  work  so  that  in  six  years  a  man  can  obtain  his  combined 
degrees. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  : 

Professor  John  H.  Gray,  of  Northwestern  University,  will  con- 
tinue the  general  discussion. 

PROFESSOR  GRAY  : 

Mr.  Chairman :  There  is  one  thing  I  should  like  to  say  in  regard 
to  the  men  who  are  not  willing  to  take  the  full  four  years  of  the  college 
course  in  addition  to  the  three  or  four  years  required  for  a  profes- 
sional course.  If  I  understand  Dr.  Bashford,  he  said  that  such  men 
ought  to  leave  college  without  a  degree  at  the  end  of  one  or  two  years. 
Now,  I  am  afraid  that  the  result  in  practice  will  be  somewhat  different 
from  that.  My  fear  is,  that  these  men  will  either  enter  the  profes- 
sional school  without  any  college  study,  or  will  go  to  a  university  with 
a  combined  college  and  professional  course  amounting  in  all  to  less 
than  eight  years.  I  believe  that  it  is  practically  impossible  to  hold 
men  for  four  years  of  college  life  and  then  four  years,  we  will  say,  of 
medical  study.  I  feel  very  keenly  that  it  is  not  only  practically  impos- 
sible but  also  undesirable.  In  my  opinion  there  are  numerous  social, 
physiological  and  psychological  reasons  which  make  it  desirable  for 
one  to  begin  his  life-work  earlier  than  he  can  do  after  such  a  course  in 
view  of  the  present  standard  of  admission  to  college.  I  am  sure  that  it 
is  practically  impossible.  We  have  already  reached  the  point  in  the 
West,  where  we  must  make  a  choice  between  combined  courses,  or 
professional  graduates  who  have  had  no  college  training. 

100 


An  illustration  will  best  show  the  danger  to  the  independent  col- 
lege. Something  like  a  half  century  ago  we  found  the  men  in  charge 
of  the  educational  machinery  of  the  country  absolutely  averse  to  recog- 
nizing the  genuine  needs  of  what  we  call  technical  education — the 
various  lines  of  engineering,  etc.  They  refused  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  it.  They  drove  the  people  interested  in  technical  education 
to  found  independent  institutions.  ^Reference  has  been  made  to  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.  No  institution  of  learning 
in  this  country  has  brought  more  genuine  honor  to  America  than  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.  It  was  driven  out  into  the 
world  to  its  own  injury  and  to  the  weakening  of  the  University,  be- 
cause those  in  charge  of  the  University  would  make  no  place  for  the 
work  it  is  doing. 

Now,  if  I  understand  the  movement  that  is  going  on,  it  is  to 
recognize  that  a  large  part  of  the  things  covered  in  the  technical 
schools  can  be  better  done  in  the  colleges.  The  technical  schools  are 
today  attempting  to  throw  back  a  lot  of  the  work  which  we  call  liberal 
work  on  the  college.  The  technical  schools  had  originally  to  do  this 
work  simply  because  their  students  had  been  shut  out  by  the  colleges 
from  all  liberal  training.  Both  the  colleges  and  the  technical  schools 
make  a  great  gain  when  these  studies  are  carried  on  in  the  college 
rather  than  in  the  technical  school. 

I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  combination  course.  There  are  one  or 
two  words  I  should  like  to  say  about  the  practical  side  of  it.  We  all  be- 
lieve in  liberal  culture.  We  all  believe  in  technical  studies.  We  are  not 
quite  sure  whether  we  can  inoculate  a  man  with  liberal  culture  in  three 
years.  I  am  sure  there  is  a  border-land  between  these  two  fields — a 
border-land  of  subjects  which  are  partly  technical,  and  partly  liberal 
but  always  necessary  as  a  foundation  for  the  purely  technical  training. 
If  I  should  instance  a  thing,  which  Dean  Wigmore  probably  would 
want  to  interpret,  I  would  say  in  regard  to  such  subjects  as  bankruptcy 
and  corporations  (I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there  must  not  be  tech- 
nical study  of  them)  and  the  facts  connected  with  them  that  there  is 
as  much  liberal  culture  in  these  and  many  similar  subjects,  as  in 
almost  any  studies  in  the  college  curriculum.  I  do  not  believe  that  a 
man  can  take  a  great  constitutional  case  or  a  great  case  concerning 
private  corporations  and  follow  out  the  history  and  logic  of  the  case 
and  fail  to  get  a  large  part  of  the  training  that  can  be  got  from  any 
subject  in  college. 

Further,  I  believe  that  it  is  perfectly  justifiable  for  the  college, 
having  held  its  man  for  three  years,  having  turned  him  over  to  the 

101 


professional  school,  having  given  him  the  training  of  those  subjects, 
to  give  him  his  college  degree.  But  whether  you  are  going  to  give  him 
his  college  degree  at  the  end  of  those  three  years,  or  later  when  he 
takes  his  professional  degree  is  another  question.  I  do  not  believe  that 
it  is  possible  or  desirable  to  hold  him  for  the  seven  or  eight  years  neces- 
sary if  the  two  courses  be  kept  distinctly  apart,  and  as  many  years  in 
the  professional  school  required  of  the  college  graduate  as  of  one  who 
has  had  nothing  more  than  a  high  school  course. 

I  question  if  it  is  desirable  anywhere  to  require  a  college  degree 
for  admission  to  a  professional  school.  I  know  it  will  be  imprac- 
ticable to  do  so  in  this  vicinity  for  years  to  come. 

In  regard  to  subjects  taken  in  the  medical  school,  my  own 
feeling  is  that  these  subjects  may  well  count  toward  the  college  de- 
gree. I  think  whichever  institution  happens  to  be  the  best  equipped 
at  the  particular  time  for  doing  these  things  ought  to  do  them.  I 
do  not  care  whether  a  man  gets  his  Chemistry  in  the  medical  school 
or  in  the  college  of  liberal  arts.  If  he  is  to  be  a  physician,  he  has 
got  to  have  it  somewhere,  and  he  is  entitled  to  his  A.  B.  when  he 
gets  it,  if  he  has  done  the  other  work. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  discussion  will  be  continued  by  President  Charles  A.  Blan- 
chard,  of  Wheaton  College. 

PRESIDENT  BLANCHARD: 

Mr.  Chairman :  It  seems  to  me  that  this  pressure  for  the  com- 
bination courses  has  not  originated  from  the  young  men,  but  has 
originated  from  the  institutions  that  offer  such  courses.  I  may  be 
mistaken.  It  seems  to  me  supremely  unhappy  that  educational  in- 
stitutions should  give  young  men  the  idea  that  they  are  being  held 
too  long.  I  could  wish  that  the  colleges  and  universities,  instead 
of  saying  to  the  young  men,  "You  are  likely  to  be  held  too  long/' 
would  say,  "You  are  in  too  great  a  hurry;  stay  as  long  as  you  can." 
I  may  be  mistaken  but  my  observation  leads  me  to  believe  that  the 
pressure  is  on  the  part  of  the  institutions  and  not  on  the  part  of 
the  young  men. 

In  the  second  place  I  wish  merely  to  quote  from  Dr.  Hadley. 
He  said,  for  substance,  in  his  address  in  this  university  last  winter: 
"Gentlemen,  there  are  some  people  who  do  not  want  college  courses, 
and  there  are  others  who  do.  Are  you  going  to  construct  your  courses 
for  the  people  who  want  them  or  for  those  who  do  not  want  them?" 
I  think  if  we  construct  our  courses  for  those  who  want  them  we 

102 


shall  influence  many  others  to  wish  for  them.  If  we  hinder  those 
who  do  desire  them,  by  constructing  courses  for  those  who  do  not, 
we  shall  be  scaling  down  the  courses  of  education  for  the  whole 
country. 

In  the  third  place  if  we  go  on  scaling  down  the  liberal  courses 
as  the  universities  are  now  doing  with  their  combined  courses,  this 
thing  will  happen  universally,  the  prizes  will  go  to  the  men  who 
get  the  most  training.  Other  things  being  equal,  the  man  who  does 
the  best  will  get  the  best  results,  and  instead  of  encouraging  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men  to  shorten  their  courses  and  give  the  prizes 
to  fifteen,  it  would  be  better  to  encourage  all  to  a  broader  culture 
and  distribute  the  prizes  among  them.  Certainly  we  educators  ought 
not  to  invite  and  urge  men  to  shorten  their  courses  of  study. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  discussion  will  be  continued  by  Professor  William  A.  Locy, 
of  Northwestern  University. 

PROFESSOR  LOCY: 

Mr.  Chairman:  The  paper  was  presented  by  a  medical  man 
and  the  discussion  carried  on  by  a  medical  man.  I  think  it  would 
be  suitable  for  me  to  say  a  word  from  the  standpoint  of  the  teacher 
in  the  college  of  liberal  arts.  The  question  as  it  affects  the  college 
has  been  stated  as  follows:  "What  subjects  offered  in  the  Medical 
School  can  be  legitimately  accepted  for  credit  by  the  College  of  Lib- 
eral Arts  toward  its  degrees?"  I  should  say  that  under  proper  cir- 
cumstances the  college  of  liberal  arts  is  quite  justified  in  accepting 
some  work  done  in  the  medical  school  to  count  toward  its  degrees, 
provided  the  work  is  done  in  a  broad  and  liberal  spirit.  There  are 
a  good  many  subjects  that  are  common  to  the  scientific  courses  in 
colleges  of  liberal  arts  and  in  the  medical  schools.  Whether  or  not 
it  is  safe  for  the  college  to  accept  particular  subjects  depends  on 
whether  they  have  been  taught  in  the  medical  school  in  an  ultra- 
professional  spirit,  or  whether  in  a  broad  way.  If,  for  illustration, 
Chemistry  in  the  medical  school  is  taught  on  a  broad  basis,  I  think 
it  is  right  for  the  college  to  accept  that  work  and  allow  it  to  count 
toward  the  bachelor's  degree.  But  if  it  be  given  a  strictly  pro- 
fessional turn  so  that  a  man  is  taught  merely  to  detect  sugar  by 
a  color  test,  or  if  it  be  narrowed  to  urinary  analysis  or  made 
simply  to  provide  a  medical  man  with  facts  that  will  enable  him  to 
apply  certain  tests  in  Chemistry,  then,  in  my  opinion,  it  ought  not 
to  be  accepted  in  the  college  of  liberal  arts.  Physiology  is  a  splen- 

103 


did  example  of  work  that  is  taught  in  the  college  of  liberal  arts  and 
also  in  the  department  of  medicine.  It  is  a  splendid  subject,  I 
think,  to  illustrate  that  some  of  the  work  of  the  medical  school  is  of 
a  good  kind  to  put  into  the  curriculum  of  the  college  of  liberal  arts. 
Physiology  is  now  taught  in  the  medical  school  on  the  most  liberal 
basis.  Instead  of  beginning  with  a  discussion  of  the  physiology  of 
the  human  body,  the  work  is  carried  on  by  giving  attention  first  to 
analysis  of  the  vital  activities.  This  is  followed  with  work  that 
belongs  directly  to  the  department  of  general  Biology.  If  it  be 
taught  in  that  way  the  college  is  perfectly  safe  in  accepting  it. 
Nevertheless,  medical  schools  usually  employ  a  different  method  of 
teaching  Physiology  from  that  best  suited  to  general  students  in 
the  college  of  liberal  arts.  For  that  class  of  students  there  should 
be  provided,  in  my  opinion,  a  course  of  moderate  extent  giving  a 
complete  survey  of  the  subject  of  Physiology.  The  physiology  of 
the  nervous  system  and  the  sense  organs  should  be  brought  into 
this  course.  The  medical  men  desire  that  the  college  of  liberal  arts 
shall  give  a  course  of  laboratory  training  in  Physiology  extending 
over  a  year  in  which  the  activities  of  the  nervous  system  are  not 
touched  upon.  If  the  college  of  liberal  arts  is  to  supply  a  course  of 
that  kind  it  should  be  separated  from  the  other  general  course 
in  Physiology.  Take  Comparative  Anatomy;  if  that  is  taught  in 
the  liberal  way  as  contributing  to  a  knowledge  of  the  comparative 
structure  of  animals  I  think  that  it  can  be  very  well  accepted,  but 
if  it  be  taught  in  the  narrow  way  of  simply  naming  the  bones,  the 
muscles  and  the  blood  vessels  and  nerves,  it  does  not  belong  in 
the  college  course  at  all.  Histology  can,  I  think,  very  well  be  ac- 
cepted in  the  college  of  liberal  arts  if  it  be  taught  as  a  deeper 
analysis  of  the  form  and  structure  of  animals.  Embryology  as  giv- 
ing a  picture  of  the  development  of  animal  and  plant  life,  is  an 
exceedingly  rich  subject  that  ought  to  be  taught  in  the  college  of 
liberal  arts.  That  part  of  the  subject  which  is  of  a  general  char- 
acter and  accompanied  by  laboratory  work  may  be  accepted  from 
the  medical  schools.  If  it  be  taught  in  a  broad  way  I  should 
designate  it  as  one  of  the  liberal  subjects.  Neurology  has  given 
the  basis  of  the  structure  of  the  nervous  system,  the  fiber  tracts, 
the  analysis  of  the  sense  organs,  and  is  a  discussion  of  their  func- 
tions. I  think  it  a  subject  well  worthy  of  acceptance  by  the  college. 
Bacteriology  has  a  similar  position.  I  would  go  so  far,  as  a  college 
of  liberal  arts  man,  as  to  say  that  even  Pathology,  which  deals 
with  morbid  growths,  offers  such  a  field  for  making  minute  and  fine 

104 


distinctions  that  it  may  be  accepted  by  the  college.  If  it  be  taught 
as  a  science  elucidating  the  structure  of  animals  in  a  broad  way, 
and  is  not  taught  in  the  formal  way  of  merely  naming  characteristics 
by  means  of  which  to  recognize  abnormal  growths,  it  ought  to  be 
accepted  in  the  college. 

All  of  these  subjects  contribute  toward  a  knowledge  of  organic 
nature  which  is  today  a  general  topic  of  importance  in  our  colleges. 


SATURDAY,  MAY  9,  1903,  9  lOO  A.  M. 

PRESIDENT  EATON,  OF  BELOIT  COLLEGE,  IN  THE  CHAIR. 
THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  subject  for  discussion  this  morning  is : 

If  reduction  is  allowed,  should  it  be  (a)  by  acceptance  of  credits 
in  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  for  work  done  in  the  professional 
school,  or  (b)  by  acceptance  of  credits  in  the  professional  school 
for  work  done  in  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  or  (c)  by  combining 
these  plans?  The  first  paper  will  be  presented  by  Professor  Munroe 
Smith,  of  Columbia  University. 
PROFESSOR  MUNROE  SMITH: 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  The  subject  on  which  I  am  to 
speak  is  so  intimately  connected  with  those  which  have  already  been 
discussed,  and  it  is  so  difficult  to  make  my  position  on  this  ques- 
tion intelligible  without  indicating  my  views  on  the  others,  that  I 
shall  ask  your  patience  for  a  brief  preface. 

The  college  has  undoubtedly  a  field  peculiar  to  itself,  viz., 
that  of  educating  men  who  are  not  satisfied  with  the  view  of  his- 
tory and  life  which  may  be  obtained  in  the  high  school,  who  have 
or  can  procure  the  means  for  further  study,  but  who  do  not  pro- 
pose to  enter  any  of  the  recognized  professions.  With  many  college 
graduates  all  systematic  education  stops  at  the  moment  when  they 
receive  the  first  or  college  degree.  The  college,  moreover,  prepares 
young  men  not  only  for  the  recognized  professions,  but  for  non- 
professional  graduate  work;  and  this  work,  the  amount  of  which  is 
rapidly  increasing,  is  already  correlated,  in  a  way  that  is  on  the 
whole  satisfactory,  with  the  four-year  course  for  the  college  degree. 
As  regards  both  of  these  classes  of  college  students — those  who  pass 
from  the  college  into  active  non-professional  life  and  those  who 
enter  upon  non-professional  training  in  research  work — it  seems 
unnecessary  and  undesirable  to  diminish  the  amount  of  work  required 
for  the  college  degree.  It  is  also  undesirable,  I  think,  that  the  course 

105 


4  should  be  shortened  in  time,  unless  the  results  that  are  now  obtained 
I  in  four  years  can  be  substantially  obtained,  as  regards  the  average 
student,  in  three  years.  Such  a  change — such  an  acceleration  of  the 
pace  of  study  that  the  four-year  course  shall  be  run  instead  of  walked, 
and  run  in  the  average  time  of  three  years — is,  perhaps,  possible; 
but  after  listening  to  Dr.  Merrill's  charming  apology  for  leisure  I 
am  quite  sure  that  it  is  undesirable.  And  even  before  hearing  Dr. 
Merrill's  arguments,  I  was  convinced  that  the  scheme  of  compress- 
ing four  years'  work  into  three  years  would  mean  a  change  in  the 
habits  of  college  undergraduates  and  a  breach  of  the  traditions  of 
the  college  so  great  as  to  be  almost  revolutionary.  I  doubt,  there- 
fore, whether  the  shortening  of  the  college  course  to  three  years  is 
feasible  without  a  substantial  diminution  of  work;  and  this,  as  I 
have  already  indicated,  I  do  not  think  desirable. 

What  we  have  at  present  to  consider,  however,  is  the  college 
course  as  a  preparation  for  professional  study.  In  the  preceding 
discussion  two  different  questions  have  been  imperfectly  separated; 
the  question  whether  we  shall  encourage  students  who  are  already 
in  college  to  begin  their  professional  studies  before  completing  their 
college  course,  and  the  other  question,  which  is  the  one  I  am  now 
discussing,  whether  we  shall  require  students  who  are  not  in  col- 
lege and  who  do  not  intend  to  come  to  college — whether  we  shall 
require  these  students  to  pursue  a  four-year  college  course  in  order 
to  get  into  a  university  professional  school.  Considering  that  until 
recently  all  our  professional  schools,  even  our  university  profes- 
sional schools,  were  open  to  high-school  graduates,  and  that  the 
majority  are  still  open  to  such  graduates,  it  does  not  seem  to  me 
desirable  that  a  college  degree,  based  on  a  four-year  course,  should 
be  required  for  admission  to  all  professional  schools,  nor  even  to 
all  university  professional  schools;  and  I  doubt  whether  it  should 
be  required  for  admission  to  any  of  them. 

I  speak  with  some  hesitation  as  regards  university  schools  of 
law,  because  of  the  fact  that  both  Harvard  and  Columbia  are  now 
requiring  the  first  degree  for  admission  to  their  law  schools.  I 
think,  however,  that  if  this  policy  be  maintained  in  these  univer- 
sities and  adopted  by  other  universities,  it  will  become  necessary 
to  shorten  the  college  course  to  three  years.  For  this  reason  I  ven- 
ture to  disapprove  of  the  step  which  these  two  universities  have  taken. 
At  the  same  time  I  recognize  that  the  American  law  school  stands 
in  a  peculiar  relation  to  the  college — a  relation  different  from  thai 
occupied  by  the  other  professional  schools.  No  other  professional 


106 


school  leaves  to  the  college  an  important  part  of  its  professional 
work.  The  great  majority  of  our  law  schools,  including  many  of 
our  university  law  schools,  do  this  very  thing.  They  teach  so  much 
private  law  and  so  little  public  law  that  the  young  man  who  desires 
an  all-round  legal  education  must  look  to  the  college  for  most  of 
his  international  law,  much  of  his  constitutional  law,  and  his  gen- 
eral view  of  national,  state  and  local  administration.  The  same  is 
true  of  Roman  law,  because  the  American  law  school  almost  always 
confines  itself  to  Anglo-American  law.  In  several  of  our  universities, 
indeed,  these  subjects  are  treated  in  a  graduate  school  and  may  be 
pursued  by  law  students  in  connection  with  their  professional  studies ; 
and  in  some  of  our  law  schools  these  subjects  are  obtaining  recogni- 
tion as  portions  of  the  law  curriculum,  usually  as  electives;  but  as 
things  stand  throughout  the  country  generally,  the  majority  of  stu- 
dents who  pass  through  American  law  schools  carry  out  little  public 
law  or  comparative  jurisprudence  beyond  what  they  may  have  brought 
in  with  them  from  college.  As  long  as  this  state  of  things  exists — 
as  long  as  a  student  who  intends  to  study  law  must  resort  to  the 
college  not  only  for  general  preparation  but  for  an  essential  part 
of  a  well-rounded  legal  education — so  long  there  will  be  a  special 
reason  why  the  college  course  preliminary  to  study  in  a  law  school 
should  be  longer  than  that  which  is  required  as  a  preparation  for 
other  professional  schools. 

It  may  perhaps  be  maintained  that  a  somewhat  similar  state  of 
things  exists  as  regards  theological  education.  The  modern  clergy- 
man is  expected  to  know  so  many  things  that  are  not  and  perhaps 
can  not  be  taught  in  a  theological  seminary,  that  perhaps  we  should 
say  that  he  requires  as  long  a  preliminary  college  course  as  does 
the  lawyer.  But  until  it  is  decided  what  subjects  should  be  taught 
in  a  theological  seminary  and  what  subjects  should  be  excluded — 
and  yesterday's  discussion  showed  that  the  theological  teachers  are 
far  from  having  reached  agreement  on  this  point — the  relation  of 
the  theological  seminary  to  the  American  college  seems  incapable  of 
even  theoretic  adjustment. 

For  admission  to  the  university  law  school,  as  the  average  uni- 
versity law  school  is  now  constituted,  and  perhaps  also  for  admis- 
sion to  the  theological  school,  when  that  shall  become  distinctly  a 
university  school,  it  seems  to  me  that  at  least  three  years  of  college 
study  should  be  required.  If  the  law  course  shall  be  so  modified 
as  to  give  due  space  to  instruction  in  public  law,  it  will  probably 
be  necessary  to  extend  that  course  to  four  years.  In  such  case, 

107 


when  the  law  school  shall  do  the  work  which  it  now  leaves  to  the 
college,  it  may  be  proper  to  require  only  two  years  of  preliminary 
college  training. 

For  admission  to  the  other  professional  schools  we  should  require, 
I  think,  at  least  two  years  of  college  study.  A  liberal-scientific  course, 
whether  given  in  a  college  or  in  a  scientific  school  of  similar  rank, 
should,  however,  be  regarded  as  equivalent  to  a  classical  course.  Two 
years  of  college  or  of  liberal-scientific  study  and  four 'years  of  medi- 
cal or  engineering  study  yield,  it  will  be  noted,  the  same  total  period 
as  three  years  of  college  and  three  years  of  legal  or  theological 
study.  The  college  and  professional  course  for  the  professional  de- 
gree should  not,  I  am  sure,  be  less  than  six  years;  and  when  we  con- 
sider the  average  age  of  entrance  into  college,  I  am  inclined  to  think' 
that  not  more  than  six  years  should  be  required. 

If  now  a  four-year  course  be  maintained  for  the  degree  of  A.  B., 
or  if  the  college  course  be  shortened  by  one  year  only,  and  if  col- 
lege students  be  encouraged  to  begin  their  professional  studies  be- 
fore the  termination  of  the  course  required  for  the  college  degree, 
the  first  question  that  presents  itself  is:  What  policy  shall  we  pur- 
sue as  regards  the  college  degree?  Shall  we  say  to  these  students: 
"You  can  obtain  a  liberal  and  a  professional  education  in  six  years 
of  combined  college  and  professional  study,  but  you  shall  have  no 
academic  recognition  of  your  college  work";  or  shall  we  accept  a 
combined  college  and  professional  course  for  the  first  degree? 

It  seems  to  me  that  justice  as  well  as  expediency  calls  for  the 
granting  of  the  degree  of  A.  B.  on  such  a  combined  course.  The 
linguistic  and  historical  studies  which  usually  figure  in  the  first 
part  of  the  theological  course  and  the  general  scientific  studies  which 
occupy  the  first  year  or  two  of  a  medical  course  or  of  an  engineer- 
ing course — these  have  long  been  recognized  as  college  subjects.  Con- 
versely, as  I  have  just  pointed  out,  the  American  college  is  teaching 
some  subjects  which  in  every  European  and  Spanish-American  uni- 
versity are  regarded,  and  which  in  this  country  are  beginning  to 
be  regarded,  as  proper  to  the  law  school.  Whether  the  college  is 
trespassing  on  the  professional  field  or  the  professional  school  is 
encroaching  on  the  field  of  the  college,  may  be  disputed,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  their  claims  now  overlap;  and  the  point  on 
which  I  desire  to  insist  is  this:  that  the  degree  of  A.  B.  is  now 
awarded,  in  all  our  colleges,  on  what  is  substantially  a  combined 
course,  partly  composed  of  the  traditional  college  studies  and  partly 
of  studies  that  are,  or  may  be  regarded  as,  professional.  The  pro- 

108 


posal  to  give  the  degree  of  A.  B.  as  well  as  the  professional  degree, 
on  a  six-year  combined  course,  is  simply  a  proposal  that  the  student 
who  has  successfully  pursued  during  four  of  these  six  years  the  study 
of  subjects  which  are  generally  regarded  as  college  subjects  shall 
receive  what  he  has  earned,  viz.,  the  college  degree. 

These  considerations,  I  think,  dispose  of  the  objection  often  heard 
that  there  is  something  dishonest  in  allowing  studies  that  count  for 
the  professional  degree  to  count  for  the  college  degree  also.  What 
is  just  can  not  well  be  dishonest.  The  impression  that  there  is  any 
dishonesty  in  the  combined  course  flows  from  the  facile  but  baseless 
assumption  that  all  the  studies  pursued  in  the  professional  school 
are  purely  professional  studies  and  are  different  in  their  nature 
from  those  pursued  in  the  college. 

There  still  remains,  however,  the  question  whether  it  is  wise 
to  encourage  college  students  to  begin  their  professional  studies  be- 
fore completing  a  distinct  four-year  college  course.  It  was  said 
yesterday  that  no  demand  for  the  combined  course — no  protest  against 
the  seven  or  eight  years  of  college  and  professional  studies — had 
come  from  the  students.  It  is  true  that  no  such  protest  has  come 
from  the  young  men  who  have  voluntarily  entered  on  such  a  course. 
The  protest  has  come  from  the  tens  of  thousands  of  young  men  who 
have  gone  directly  from  the  high  school  to  the  professional  school. 
These  have  protested,  dumbly  but  clearly,  by  giving  up  the  college 
course  as  a  thing  beyond  their  reach.  When  we  are  planning  to 
constrain  these  young  men  to  enter  college  as  the  only  avenue  to 
the  university  professional  schools,  their  silent  protest,  I  think,  should 
be  taken  into  account. 

The  last  question  which  must  be  answered  in  planning  a  com- 
bined course  (and  this  is  the  special  question  before  us  today)  is 
whether  studies  falling  in  the  debatable  field — studies  which  are 
both  college  and  professional  studies  and  which  for  convenience  we 
may  call  semi-professional  studies — whether  these  studies  may  to 
the  best  advantage  be  pursued,  by  the  candidate  for  the  two  degrees, 
in  the  professional  school  or  in  the  college?  These  alternative  so- 
lutions are  indicated,  in  the  question  as  drafted,  by  the  letters  "a"  and 
"b."  If  the  first  solution  "a"  is  adopted  the  college  undergraduate, 
at  the  moment  in  which  he  is  permitted  to  begin  his  professional 
work,  passes  out  of  the  college  into  the  professional  school,  and 
work  done  in  the  professional  school  is  accepted  as  an  equivalent 
for  the  Senior  or  for  the  Junior  and  Senior  work  of  the  college. 
If  the  second  solution  "b"  is  adopted,  the  student  anticipates  in 

100 


the  college,  as  electives,  studies  which  count  toward  the  professional 
degree,  and,  after  a  full  college  course,  he  enters  the  professional 
school  with  advanced  standing.  In  its  practical  working  this  lat- 
ter arrangement  may  approximate  so  closely  to  the  first  solution 
"a"  that  the  difference  seems  formal  rather  than  substantial.  If 
in  any  year  a  college  student  is  permitted  to  elect,  and  does  elect, 
all  his  work  in  a  professional  school  we  have  what  may  be  termed 
solution  "a"  in  disguise.  The  difference  seems  merely  a  matter  of 
registration.  It  is,  however,  something  more  than  that:  it  is  a 
matter  of  jurisdiction,  and,  what  is  more  important,  it  is  a  matter 
of  associations  and  influences. 

In  each  of  these  plans  there  are  advantages,  some  of  which 
will  suggest  themselves  to  every  college  or  professional  instructor. 
I  desire  to  dwell  on  a  few  advantages  of  plan  "a" — the  plan  under 
which  the  student,  at  the  moment  at  which  his  semi-professional  or 
professional  studies  begin,  severs  his  connection  with  the  college  and 
passes  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  professional  faculty  and  under 
the  influences  of  the  ideas  and  associations  of  the  professional  school. 

In  the  first  place  this  is  the  only  arrangement  in  which  the 
smaller  colleges  can  effectively  co-operate.  A  small  college  may 
teach  some  of  the  semi-professional  subjects  as  well  as  they  are 
taught  anywhere;  but  it  can  not  teach  very  many  of  these  subjects 
as  well  as  they  are  taught  in  the  leading  professional  schools,  nor 
can  it  attempt  to  teach  all  of  them.  To  make  the  combined  course 
generally  effective  as  between  the  independent  colleges  and  the  pro- 
fessional schools,  the  student  must  sever  his  connection  with  the 
college  at  the  close  of  his  Sophomore  or  Junior  year  and  migrate 
to  the  professional  school. 

Even  in  the  universities — I  use  this  term  to  designate  the  insti- 
tutions which  include  a  college,  a  non-professional  graduate  school, 
and  a  number  of  professional  schools — even  in  the  universities,  where 
the  college  can  expand  its  list  of  electives  almost  indefinitely  by 
the  simple  process  of  making  professional-school  courses  college  elec- 
tives; where  it  seems  a  question  of  secondary  importance  whether 
a  student  shall  do  his  semi-professional  work  piecemeal  or  all  at 
once;  and  where  it  seems  immaterial  whether  this  work  be  done 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  college  faculty  or  of  a  professional 
faculty — even  here  there  are  distinct  advantages  in  placing  the  semi- 
professional  courses  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  professional  faculties. 

A  semi-professional  subject  may  be  taught — and  for  the  partic- 
ular purposes  of  the  college,  for  the  benefit  of  the  undergraduates  who 

no 


do  not  intend  to  enter  any  of  the  recognized  professions,  it  perhaps 
should  be  taught — without  the  slightest  professional  twist  or  lean- 
ing. But  for  the  students  who  are  to  enter  professions  it  will  be  of 
advantage  that  the  semi-professional  courses  shall  be  taught  with  some- 
thing of  a  professional  aim.  Take  for  example  studies  like  chemistry 
and  physics,  which  find  different  applications  in  medicine  and  in  the 
other  applied  sciences.  When  a  student  has  passed  beyond  the  rudi- 
ments of  chemistry  or  of  physics,  the  professional  teacher  may  begin 
to  dwell  more  fully  on  those  aspects  and  bearings  of  the  science  which 
are  of  chief  importance  in  his  profession.  This  may  be  done,  I 
think,  without  sacrificing  that  indefinable  property  or  accident  which 
makes  these  studies  "liberal"  and  gives  them  "culture-value/'  Such 
a  method  of  teaching  saves  time  in  combined  college  and  professional 
courses.  I  have  instanced  physics  and  chemistry ;  but  what  is  true  of 
them  is  true,  I  think,  of  all  or  nearly  all  the  studies  in  the  debatable 
semi-professional  field. 

Again,  the  pace  of  professional  work  is  more  rapid  than  that 
of  college  work.  At  Columbia  we  have  been  experimenting  for 
thirteen  years  with  combined  courses.  In  1890  we  introduced  solu- 
tion "a"  in  disguised  form,  permitting  Seniors  to  elect  a  full  first  year 
in  any  professional  school,  but  keeping  their  names  on  the  college 
roster.  At  first  such  students  were  compelled  to  take  a  course  or 
two  in  the  college  in  addition  to  their  professional  work,  but  this 
is  no  longer  required.  In  1897  an  arrangement  was  made  by  which 
college  undergraduates,  beginning  with  their  Sophomore  year,  might 
elect,  when  they  pleased,  applied-science  studies  to  the  total  extent 
of  two  full  years,  and  thus  gain,  after  obtaining  the  degree  of  A.  B., 
the  standing  of  third  year  students  in  the  Schools  of  Applied  Science. 
A  recent  inquest,  in  which  the  opinions  of  all  the  members  of  the 
different  university  faculties  were  solicited  on  this  and  on  other 
matters,  has  brought  out  the  fact  that  the  instructors  in  the  pro- 
fessional schools  are  not  wholly  satisfied  with  the  results  of  these 
experiments.  Many  of  them  complain  that  the  college  undergraduates 
who  elect  professional  studies  do  not  do  as  good  work  as  the  students 
who  are  primarily  registered  in  the  professional  schools.  Because 
they  are  still  college  undergraduates  they  find  it  difficult  to  escape 
the  numerous  distractions  of  college  life,  in  the  way  of  social,  liter- 
ary, dramatic,  musical  and  athletic  activities. 

This  means  that  if  the  combined  course  is  to  be  wholly  suc- 
cessful, one  of  two  things  must  be  done.  Either  the  pace  of  the 
college  work  must  be  accelerated  (and  this,  as  we  know,  will  be  diffi- 

111 


cult),  or  the  students  who,  at  the  close  of  their  Sophomore  or  Junior 
year,  are  permitted  to  elect  professional  studies,  must  sever  their 
connection  with  the  college,  although  they  remain  candidates  for  the 
degree  of  A.  B.  Under  such  an  arrangement  the  first  degree  would 
be  awarded  on  the  recommendation  of  the  college,  as  regards  work 
done  in  the  college,  and  on  the  recommendation  of  the  professional 
faculty  as  regards  work  done  in  the  professional  school. 

Where  both  college  and  professional  school  are  parts  of  the  same 
university  the  situation  will  be  simple.  If,  however,  the  student  does 
his  college  work  at  one  institution  and  his  professional  work  at 
another,  the  problem  of  the  degree  is  more  complicated.  Shall  the 
university  to  which  the  student  has  migrated  for  his  professional 
course  give  him  its  college  degree,  or  shall  his  original  college  give 
him  the  degree  on  a  certificate  from  the  university  in  which  he  has 
pursued  his  professional  studies?  Or,  if  he  has  studied  in  an  inde- 
pendent professional  school,  shall  his  original  college  give  him  his 
degree  on  a  certificate  from  that  professional  school? 

It  is  evident  that  the  latter  arrangement  is  the  only  one  that 
puts  the  independent  professional  school  (which  can  not  give  the  de- 
gree of  A.  B.)  on  the  same  footing  as  the  university  professional 
school.  Apart  from  this  consideration,  however,  and  simply  as  be- 
tween the  university  and  the  independent  college,  it  seems  much 
fairer  that  the  student  should  receive  his  college  degree  from  his 
original  college.  [This  plan,  as  far  as  I  know,  was  first  proposed  by 
Professor  A.  D.  F.  Hamlin,  of  Columbia  University.]  To  an  arrange- 
ment by  which  the  university  should  give  him  its  college  degree  there 
is  a  double  objection.  (1)  The  university  appears  to  be  robbing 
the  independent  college  of  its  alumni.  (2)  The  university  introduces 
into  its  own  college  alumni  association  a  body  felt  to  be  alien,  com- 
posed of  students  who  hold  its  first  degree,  indeed,  but  who  have 
never  studied  in  its  college. 

The  arrangement  which  I  advocate  involves  the  assent  and  co-op- 
eration of  the  independent  colleges.  Should  they  give  this  co-opera- 
tion? If  the  change  is  in  the  interest  of  American  education  they 
should  accept  it  without  narrowly  reckoning  the  advantages  or  dis- 
advantages to  themselves.  I  firmly  believe,  however,  that  to  them  the 
gain  resulting  from  such  co-operation  will  far  outweigh  any  loss 
it  may  entail. 

In  the  first  place  it  will  preserve  their  independence.  The  co- 
ordination of  college  study  with  professional  study  in  the  univer- 
sity is,  I  think,  necessary,  and  if  necessary  it  is  sure  to  come.  It 

112 


may  be  attained  either  by  that  voluntary  co-operation  for  which  I 
am  pleading  and  which  is  analogous  to  what  is  known  in  the  eco- 
nomic world  as  a  traffic  arrangement;  or  it  may  come  through  a  sub- 
ordination of  the  smaller  colleges  to  the  universities  in  a  sort  of 
educational  trust.  This  latter  method  of  co-ordination  has  already 
appeared  in  the  so-called  "affiliation."  Both  in  economic  and  in  edu- 
cational affairs  traffic  arrangements  seem  to  me  preferable  to  trusts. 

In  the  second  place  the  arrangements  which  I  have  outlined  will, 
I  think,  increase  the  number  of  students  in  the  independent  colleges. 
The  mere  possibility  of  completing  the  college  and  the  professional 
course  in  six  years  will  draw  into  the  colleges  thousands  of  students 
who  now  go  directly  from  the  high  school  to  the  professional  school. 
The  requirement  of  preliminary  college  study  for  admission  to  the 
university  professional  schools  will  force  into  the  college  all  those 
who  wish  to  get  professional  education  of  the  highest  type.  The  inde- 
pendent colleges  will  get  their  share  of  this  increment  if  they  co-op- 
erate with  the  universities  in  the  way  here  suggested.  Each  of  them 
will  be  able  to  offer  to  students  all  the  advantages  associated  with  en- 
trance into  a  university  college.  The  net  result  then,  it  seems  to  me, 
will  be  this:  The  independent  college  will  lose  some  of  its  Juniors 
and  Seniors,  who,  but  for  the  reciprocity  arrangement  with  the  uni- 
versities, would  have  remained  in  the  independent  college  for  four 
years.  The  independent  college  will  gain  in  exchange  many  students 
who,  but  for  the  shortened  combined  course,  would  not  have  entered 
college  at  all,  and  many  more  who,  but  for  the  reciprocity  arrange- 
ment, would  have  entered  a  university  college. 

It  does  not  seem  probable  that  any  large  proportion  of  students 
will  be  drawn  from  the  Junior  and  Senior  classes  of  the  college  into 
the  professional  schools.  In  the  discussion  of  this  problem  it  is  some- 
times apparently  assumed  that  the  combined  course  is  going  to  take 
the  entire  top  story  off  the  college  edifice.  If  that  were  so  it  would 
disprove  what  was  so  emphatically  asserted  yesterday,  that  the  col- 
lege has  a  peculiar  field  of  its  own.  But  it  is  not  true.  In  the 
first  place,  not  all  those  who  propose  to  enter  the  professional  schools 
will  do  this  at  the  earliest  moment.  Those  who  can  afford  to  post- 
pone their  entrance  into  active  life  will  stay  in  the  college  for  the 
full  period.  This  has  been  the  result  of  our  thirteen  years  of  experi- 
ence at  Columbia.  In  the  second  place,  those  who  are  not  going  to 
enter  the  professional  schools — those  who  are  going  on  for  graduate 
non-professional  work  and  those  who  are  going  out  into  active  non- 
professional  life — will  stay  through  the  four  years.  In  our  experience 

113 


at  Columbia  the  proportion  of  the  Senior  class  which  goes  over  into 
the  professional  schools  is  on  the  average  little  more  than  one-fourth 
(26.4  per  cent). 

The  greatest  advantage  of  the  combined  course  is  that  it  preserves 
the  old  four-year  course  for  all  students  except  those  who  propose 
to  enter  a  professional  school  and  who  are  obliged  to  enter  it  at  an 
early  period.  The  combined  course  does  not  shorten  the  college 
course,  it  only  broadens  it.  The  college  course  remains  a  four-year 
course  and  a  liberal  course,  but  it  becomes  a  course  of  ampler  oppor- 
tunities. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  : 

The  discussion  will  be  opened  by  Dean  J.  L.  Goodknight,  of 
Lincoln  College. 

DEAN  GOODKNIGHT: 

The  discussion  of  some  of  the  principles  and  the  elaboration  in 
part  of  the  practical  applications  by  Dr.  Smith,  cover  the  question 
more  fully  than  it  can  be  touched  upon  by  myself.  I  affirm  that  the 
independent  colleges  must  all  hang  together  or  they  will  hang  sepa- 
rately. The  tendency  of  the  whole  movement  in  this  question  today 
has  its  germ  in  the  elective  idea,  which  found  its  first  distinctive 
hot  bed  of  propagation  in  Harvard  University.  This  does  not  say 
that  the  elective  in  itself  is  a  bad  thing,  but  even  a  good  thing  may 
be  put  to  a  bad  use  and  even  abused.  Educational  institutions  are 
feeling  after  a  basis  of  co-operation  "if  haply  they  may  find  it." 

We  are  passing  through  a  developing  period.  We  have  not 
reached  a  permanent  college  status.  There  was  a  time  in  the  educa- 
tional work  of  the  United  States,  when  we  were  in  the  culture  period. 
We  have  moved  out  of  that  and  must  now  go  through  an  experimental 
expansion  period  in  order  that  we  may  come  back  to  a  culture 
basis.  The  college  should  develop  and  train  fully  the  mental  powers 
and  fit  the  individual  for  his  life-work  whether  it  be  professional 
or  not.  The  adjustment  should  be  such  as  to  secure  the  correct 
training  and  the  best  things  in  education.  This  whole  scheme  of 
shortening  courses  is  upon  the  assumption  that  man  should  begin 
his  professional  life-work  at  twenty-three,  twenty-four  or  twenty-five. 
This  is  merely  an  assumption  rather  than  a  proved  necessity.  I 
do  not  believe  that  it  is  necessary  for  a  man  to  enter  a  professional 
career  before  even  twenty-five.  He  may  wait  until  he  is  twenty-six 
or  twenty-seven  or  eight  and  accomplish  a  great  deal  more  in  a  life 
time  than  if  he  had  begun  his  professional  work  at  twenty-two  or 

114 


twenty-three.  There  are  a  great  many  men  who  will  have  to  do 
this,  even  if  we  have  shorter  courses,  because  of  their  mediocre 
ability  and  because  of  the  circumstsances  that  prevent  them  from 
continuous  preparation  and  from  the  continuation  of  professional 
preparation  work.  I  am  not  to  prove  that  an  adjustment  to  a  shorter 
course  is  the  best  thing,  nor  that  it  is  a  consummation  to  be  devoutly 
wished. 

But  if  it  must  be,  how  can  it  be  done  to  insure  the  least  harm. 
Certainly  we  must  have  a  re-adjustment.  I  think  there  is  no  doubt 
about  that.  The  pushing  of  the  high  school  work  into  college  work 
and  a  tendency  to  make  professional  work  a  part  of  the  college  course 
forces  the  issue.  We  have  a  condition  and  not  a  theory  confronting  us 
in  our  educational  system.  There  are  four  ways,  as  I  see  it,  by  which 
this  can  be  done. 

I.  You  can  shorten  the  college  course  to  three  years  or  to  two 
years.     No  one  who  properly  considers  the  question  will  admit  that 
we  need  less   time  now  to   develop   and  train  strenuous  men  for 
their  professional  work  than  we  have  needed  in  the  past.     You  will 
always  turn  out  a  certain  product  by  a  certain  course  of  study  or 
training.     The  product  is  always  according  to  the  great,  fundamental 
law  found  everywhere — according  to  the  cause.     The  effect  is  logical 
and  by  a  law  of  nature  follows  the  cause.     With  an  adequate  cause 
you  will  have  an  adequate  effect.     With  an  inadequate  cause  you  will 
have  an  inadequate  effect.     The  best  results  come  from  the  full  four 
years'  college  and  professional  courses,  and  as  already  indicated  the 
only  distracting  factor  is  that  the  professional  men  want  to  get  into 
their  professions  a  year  or  two  earlier  than  they  can  if  they  must 
take  a  full  college  course  and  then  a  full  professional  course. 

II.  The  second  solution  is  that  one  or  two  years  of  academic 
work  can  be  done  by  the  professional  schools  and  allowed  to  count  for 
one  or  two  years  on  the  academic  course.     This  is  a  very  easy  solu- 
tion in  the  university  where  there  are  college  and  professional  courses. 
It  can  be  very  readily  and  easily  adjusted  in  such  particular  insti- 
tutions.    But  what  are  you  going  to  do  in  the  case  of  the  independent 
college  ?     If  we  adopt  this  plan  as  already  indicated  in  the  discussion 
by  Dr.  Smith,  it  is  "up  to"  the  colleges.     There  is  no  professional 
school  to  fill  out  the  course  for  the  independent  college.     Certainly 
no  man  should  have  an  A.  B.  or  B.  S.  degree  until  he  has  done  the 
work  in  some  form.     I   do  not  believe  in  conferring  degrees   on 
faith.    I  think  they  should  be  conferred  for  actual  work.    Therefore  no 
college  can  afford  to  confer  the  A.  B.  or  B.  S.  degree  until  the  work  in 

115 


that  particular  line  has  been  done.  Dr.  Smith  gave  us,  I  think,  an 
elaboration  of  that  point  which  makes  it  clear  to  us.  The  small 
college  might  say  to  the  student:  "You  do  two  or  three  years  of 
work  in  our  course  and  take  your  professional  degree  and  we  will 
then  give  you  a  degree."  But  you  see  the  confusion  this  will  pro- 
duce and  how  impractical  it  would  be  in  its  operations. 

III.  By  the  third  plan  the  college  may  do  a  year's  work  by 
electives  which  shall  count  on  the  professional  degree.  This  seems 
feasible  for  Medicine,  for  Dr.  Schauffler  said  to  us  yesterday  that 
there  were  at  least  six  studies  in  Medicine  which  can  be  done  in 
the  academic  course.  This  seems,  therefore,  feasible  for  the  medi- 
cal course  and  for  the  medical  degree  that  comes  with  the  completion 
of  that  course  in  connection  with  the  academic  course  which  has 
been  part  of  the  work.  But  this  necessitates  more  and  better  equip- 
ment for  the  small  college.  If  you  are  going  to  teach  Biology 
and  Chemistry  in  the  small  college,  I  believe  that  in  most  of  them 
you  will  need  to  man  them  with  more  men  and  with  better  men  and 
with  better  equipment  because  we  can  not  afford  to  advance  men  who 
have  not  well  done  this  particular  work  as  part  of  a  professional 
degree.  And  while  the  work  done  at  the  present  time  is  adequate 
for  the  A.  B.  or  B.  S.  degree,  yet  if  it  is  to  be  thus  extended 
it  must  be  an  elective  and  be  a  special  course  which  will  be  substi- 
tuted for  some  of  the  things  today  demanded  for  academic  degrees. 
This  can  be  very  easily  adjusted  and  work  done  in  the  university 
where  the  men  and  equipment  are  ready  at  hand  for  the  regular 
professional  work.  This  will  necessitate  the  colleges  forming  alliances 
with  the  independent  professional  schools  and  with  the  universities 
which  have  the  problem  already  solved.  This  problem  was  also  dis- 
cussed and  enlarged  upon  by  Dr.  Smith  in  connection  with  forming 
"a  trust"  or  alliance  of  colleges  and  universities  and  professional 
schools. 

But  how  about  Law  and  Theology  and  Polytechnic  courses  ?  We 
are  assured  by  the  gentleman  who  spoke  on  Law  yesterday  that  the 
colleges  could  not  do  advanced  work  which  could  be  or  ought  to  be 
accepted  in  the  law  schools  unless  they  had  lawyers  as  instructors. 
I  suppose  most  of  the  colleges  could  do  this,  because  they  are  located 
in  places  where  there  are  eminent  jurists  and  judges  and  attorneys 
whom  they  could  induce  to  take  up  this  particular  work  in  connec- 
tion with  the  college  course.  As  to  Theology,  we  were  assured  yester- 
day that  it  had  very  little  work  which  could  be  done  in  the  college. 
Of  course,  in  the  Polytechnic  courses  this  adjustment  could  be  made 

116 


to  a  large  degree,  because  Botany  and  Chemistry  and  Mineralogy,  and 
High  Mathematics  and  other  branches  could  be  taught  in  the  colleges. 
But  as  with  Medicine,  so  again  this  will  necessitate  the  smaller  col- 
leges securing  more  and  better  men  because  it  will  require  extra 
men  and  technical  men,  and  will  require  increased  equipment  for 
doing  the  work. 

IV.  The  fourth  solution  is  that  there  will  have  to  be  a  read- 
justment of  our  entire  school  system  by  taking  some  time  from  the 
eighth  grade  course  and  some  out  of  the  high  schools  or  college 
preparatory  schools,  so  as  to  save  one  or  two  years.  I  am  free  to 
say,  for  my  part,  if  the  adjustment  must  come  that  it  seems  to  me 
that  is  the  place  where  the  adjustment  should  take  place.  I  believe 
that  today  there  are  some  things  in  the  eighth  grade  course  that  are 
rubbish  and  are  not  necessary  for  the  development  of  the  eight  grade 
course  students.  Also  it  might  be  true  that  a  three  years'  preparatory 
course  for  the  man  who  wished  to  take  a  college  course  and  a  profes- 
sional course,  might  be  arranged.  So  that  without  any  great  difficulty, 
it  seems  to  me,  there  might  be  a  saving  of  a  year  in  the  eighth  grade 
course  and  by  shortening  the  preparatory  course  to  three  years  and 
then  making  the  academic  course  full  four  years,  you  will  have  a  better 
prepared  man  for  his  professional  course  than  you  will  get  by  any  kind 
of  over-lapping  or  back-lapping  or  forward-lapping  in  the  whole  mat- 
ter as  between  colleges  and  professional  schools.  The  adjustment  might 
go  so  far  as  to  readjust  generally  the  eighth  grade  and  the  high  school 
and  the  college  and  professional  courses.  So  that  you  would  have  a 
complete  adjustment  for  the  boy  or  the  girl  who  wanted  to  take  a  pro- 
fessional course.  This  is  now  done  by  a  great  state  university — that  is, 
they  accept  a  boy  out  of  the  college  who  has  completed  three  years  of 
preparatory  work  and  who  does  three  years  college  work  in  said  uni- 
versity and  they  then  graduate  him  in  Medicine  and  in  the  academic 
degree  all  at  one  time  by  adding  the  three  years  of  work  in  the  col- 
lege to  the  three  years  professional  work,  counting  it  as  one  year. 
We  will  have  to  add  a  great  variety  of  men  to  the  small  colleges  if 
we  readjust  them  to  the  educational  system.  The  professor  from 
California  said  yesterday  that  it  is  not  desirable  that  all  who  wish 
to  become  trained  individuals  shall  go  through  the  same  course  and 
be  turned  out  in  the  same  identical  manner.  We  can  not  turn  them 
out  the  same  thing  anyway.  Their  individuality  counts  for  too  much 
to  be  able  to  make  men  according  to  a  uniform  pattern  or  by  any 
patent  method. 

117 


The  day  will  come  when  all  professional  training  will  rest  upon 
culture  courses.  An  adjustment  may  be  made  to  serve  professional 
education,  yet  the  full  A.  B.  and  B.  S.  courses  should  be  retained 
for  those  who  wish  for  and  demand  the  best  and  the  largest  things 
in  education  both  from  the  standpoint  of  the  profession  and  the  stand- 
point of  culture,  both  in  the  universities  and  in  the  colleges.  It  is 
needed  to  balance  what  the  culture  student  ought  to  have  in  order 
to  make  him  equal  to  the  individual  who  goes  forward  and  takes 
four  years  or  three  years  of  professional  study. 

Our  place  as  a  world  power  is  not  yet  attained.  We  can  not  be 
the  world-molding  nation  that  we  should,  unless  lying  at  the  base 
of  all  is  the  right  adjustment  of  our  great  educational  system  in  the 
United  States  of  America 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  discussion  will  be  continued  by  Professor  Ernest  J.  Wil- 
czynski,  of  the  University  of  California. 

PROFESSOR  WILCZYNSKI  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  should  like  to  say  a  few  words  on  this  ques- 
tion. I  find  that  the  policy  as  expounded  so  ably  by  Professor 
Smith,  of  Columbia  University,  agrees  substantially  with  the  policy 
adopted  by  the  University  of  California  and  I  only  wish  to  say  in 
a  few  words  what  our  point  of  view  has  been  in  this  matter. 

The  University  of  California  believes  in  a  rigorous  and  ade- 
quate preparation  for  its  professional  school.  It  recognizes,  however, 
that  there  are  certain  points  of  view  which  it  can  not  afford  to  over- 
look. It  is,  indeed,  desirable  that  the  preparation  of  every  man  for 
his  work  should  be  on  as  broad  a  basis  as  possible.  But  it  is  also  true 
that  after  a  certain  age  the  flexibility  of  early  youth  is  lost.  A 
man  should  enter  his  life-work  while  he  is  still  able  to  incorporate 
completely  its  details  as  a  part  of  his  own  being.  A  year  more  or 
less  makes  but  little  difference  in  his  culture  and  even  if  it  did  the 
advantage  would  seem  to  be  with  the  shorter  course.  For  the  real 
test  to  which,  after  all,  professional  men  must  be  subjected,  is  that 
of  efficiency.  I  believe  that  a  year  saved  at  this  end  of  the  professional 
man's  career  is  worth  much  to  him.  In  case  he  saves  a  year  in  time, 
he  goes  to  his  work  fresher  in  mind  and  body  and  not  appreciably  less 
mature.  It  is  not  true  that  this  year  makes  any  real  difference  in  cul- 
ture. We  believe  that  true  culture  is  not  so  much  gained  by  a  mere 
smattering  of  many  things  as  by  a  profound  knowledge  of  some  one 
subject.  If  a  medical  student  has  spent  two  or  three  years  in  prepara- 

118 


tion  and  four  years  in  professional  work  he  is  certainly  more  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  research,  with  the  true  ideal  of  work,  than  the  stu- 
dent who  merely  spends  four  years  earning  the  bachelor's  degree. 
Is  there  any  one  here  who  would  deny  that  professional  studies  have 
a  cultural  value?  I  am  not  satisfied  with  the  definition  of  culture 
that  expresses  it  in  terms  of  such  and  such  studies.  It  seems  to 
me  that  it  is  an  attitude  of  mind  which  keeps  the  cultured  man 
open  to  the  influences  of  the  world.  A  certain  amount  of  prelimi- 
nary study  is  necessary.  It  is  the  province  of  the  college  to  pro- 
vide this.  True  culture  does  not  attach  itself  to  simple  knowledge. 
Creative  scholarship  is  an  important  factor  of  culture.  Our  standpoint 
is  this:  First,  two  years'  liberal  collegiate  work;  the  last  two  years 
are  taken  by  the  student  in  the  academic  atmosphere,  but  the  sub- 
jects are  professional  to  the  extent  of  about  one  year;  then  follows 
the  purely  professional  work.  The  bachelor's  and  professional  de- 
grees are  thus  both  earned  and  the  student's  efforts  have  been  along 
the  line  where  they  will  do  him  the  most  good.  This  plan  serves  effi- 
ciency better  and  culture  just  as  well. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

Dr.  Frances  Dickinson,  of  Harvey  Medical  College,  will  continue 
the  discussion. 

DR.  DICKINSON: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  represent  one  of  the  independent  medical 
colleges,  and  like  the  gentleman  yesterday  I  did  not  "take  to  the 
woods"  because  for  nine  years  I  have  been  a  student  of  entrance 
requirements  and  educational  curricula  of  medical  schools.  Have 
personally  talked  with  several  thousand  enquirers  for  college  educa- 
tion, many  under  and  more  over  twenty-one  years  of  age;  average 
age  thirty-two  to  thirty-five.  Matriculated  into  a  medical  college 
ten  hundred  and  fifty  of  these  adults  in  nine  years  and  given  the 
M.  D.  degree  to  one  hundred  and  ten  only.  This  experience  has 
taught  me  that  more  adults  want  parts  of  the  medical  course  studies 
for  special  purposes  and  general  culture  rather  than  the  doctor's  de- 
gree for  practice.  They  desire  those  branches  often  found  in  the 
collegiate  courses.  Lawyers  want  anatomy;  teachers,  physiology; 
commercial  men,  chemistry.  There  are  two  hundred  and  fifty  va- 
cancies in  drug  stores  in  Chicago  because  the  druggist's  knowledge  of 
chemistry  gives  him  a  better  salary  in  commercial  laboratories,  as 
canning  and  other  food  factories. 

Since  the  all  round,  old  fashioned  high  school  course  has  dis- 

119 


appeared,  and  the  elective  system  run  wild  and  high  school  courses 
all  over  the  country  vary  widely,  the  high  school  diploma  has  become 
a  poor  evidence  of  the  essential  foundation  studies  of  a  medical  course. 
The  elective  courses  chosen  have  often  failed  to  develop  capacity 
and  to  train  the  mind,  have  often  been  the  studies  not  leading  to 
a  future  choice,  consequently  we  have  listed  six  groups  of  studies, 
covering  all  the  branches  taught  in  all  of  the  high  schools  and 
demand  sixteen  units  from  these  groups  as  equivalent  to  a  four  years' 
high  school  course.  Latin,  physics,  mathematics  and  English  must 
be  four  of  the  sixteen  whether  the  diploma  covers  them  or  not.  One 
group  of  them  consists  of  commercial  branches  since  the  Board  of 
Regents  of  New  York  have  established  a  four  years  high  school  com- 
mercial curriculum. 

The  study  of  physiology  is  no  longer  based  on  histology  but 
upon  the  laws  of  chemistry,  physics  and  psychology.  Is  there  any 
function  of  the  body  that  is  not  the  resultant  forces  of  chemistry, 
physics  and  psychology  applied  to  anatomy?  Has  any  cell  or  group 
of  cells  any  force  or  power  to  grow,  to  change,  to  aid  the  process 
of  life  or  death,  to  continue  their  activity  in  any  form  except  by 
way  of  the  laws  of  chemistry,  physics  and  psychology?  Therefore, 
the  study  of  the  normal  man  is  the  study  of  these  laws  applied  to 
human  anatomy. 

Since  the  study  of  medicine  is  the  study  of  the  human  body 
and  all  the  forces  affecting  its  functions,  it  is  essential  that  the 
collegiate  subjects  of  chemistry,  physics,  psychology  and  biology 
should  be  the  foundation  stones  to  a  proper  medical  education. 

Biology  for  a  medical  course  should  include  general  biology, 
structural  and  systematic  botany,  structural  and  systematic  zoology, 
vertebrate  morphology  and  embryology,  animal  physiology  and  his- 
tology, elementary  bacteriology  and  hygiene.  These  are  the  subjects 
which  are  found  in  both  collegiate  and  medical  curricula  and  all 
are  scientific  studies  belonging  to  the  B.  S.  degree,  whoever  gives  the 
degree. 

I  have  personally  visited  nearly  half  of  the  medical  colleges 
of  the  country  to  observe  equipment.  Have  looked  over  most  of 
the  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  medical  curricula  and  find  these  colle- 
giate studies  scattered  in  the  first  two  years  of  the  four-year  courses 

Only  specialized  botany,  physics,  chemistry  and  biology  as  applied 
to  human  anatomy  and  its  functions  belong  to  medical  colleges. 
As  for  example  botany  applied  to  the  medicinal  and  food  plants, 
chemistry  and  physics  applied  to  drugs,  is  knowledge  necessary  to  an 

120 


intelligent  selection  of  remedies  and  intelligent  expression  of  combi- 
nations in  prescription  writing  that  shall  make  remedies  palatable, 
suitable  and  effective. 

I  hope  to  see  the  day  when  these  collegiate  courses  from  their 
elementary  standpoint  shall  be  outside  of  the  medical  curricula;  that 
two  years7  scientific  collegiate  course  shall  be  necessary  to  medical 
college  entrance. 

Economic  necessity  is  not  the  only  reason  that  many  of  our  best 
men  left  school  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and  sixteen  years.  The 
adolescent  stage  of  child  life  takes  from  the  text-book  school  life 
the  vigorous  boy  and  girl.  He  will  not  go  to  school  any  more  and 
sit  still  all  day  long.  He  demands  change  of  occupation  and  must 
use  hands  and  feet  and  all  his  forces  to  answer  nature's  own  call 
for  healthy  growth  of  mind  and  body.  The  vigorous  healthy  fellow 
in  after  life  finds  that  he  wants  an  education  best  attained  in  col- 
leges and  universities.  He  wants  it  for  better  social  position,  and 
business  purposes  or  his  own  pleasure.  His  general  life  and  business 
training  has  been  a  schooling.  It  has  developed  his  capacity  for 
work,  taught  him  economy  of  time,  trained  his  powers  of  concentra- 
tion and  observation,  increased  his  resources  for  application,  quick- 
ened his  ability  to  apply  and  enlarge  his  sympathetic  knowledge  of 
his  fellow  men. 

Shall  all  of  these  attainments  go  to  naught  when  he  knocks  at 
the  college  door  and  asks  admission?  No,  the  least  we  can  do  for 
this  man  over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  with  a  record  of  more  than 
five  years  in  business,  is  to  give  him  one  year  of  a  four  years' 
course  leading  to  the  degree  of  A.  B.  or  B.  S.  I  am  here  to  plead 
for  those  business  men.  There  are  hundreds  of  them  in  our  best 
families  in  all  of  our  large  cities,  who  will  give  back  immediately 
to  the  community  in  which  they  live,  the  benefits  of  this  up  to  date 
knowledge  who  will  be  thereby  grander  and  more  forceful  citizens. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  : 

Dean  Wigmore,  of  the  Northwestern  University  Law  School,  will 
continue  the  discussion. 

DEAN  WIGMORE: 

Mr.  Chairman:  You  may  recall  that  Prince  Bismarck,  once 
consulting  an  eminent  physician,  was  much  annoyed  by  the  repeated 
and  inquisitive  questions  which  the  physician  asked,  and  he  exclaimed, 
"I  want  to  be  cured  without  being  asked  questions."  "Very  well," 
was  the  reply,  "your  Highness  should  have  consulted  a  veterinary 

121 


surgeon."  It  occurs  to  me  that,  while  we  are  discussing  the  solu- 
tion "a,"  whether  we  should  give  credit  in  the  college  for  work  in  the 
professional  school,  we  are  talking  about  what  is  good  for  the  stu- 
dent to  have,  and  that  just  here  it  would  be  worth  while  to 
abandon  the  attitude  of  the  veterinary  surgeon  and  to  ask  our 
patient  himself  what  symptoms  he  himself  can  detect.  I  have, 
therefore,  caused  the  students  in  the  Law  school  to  be  asked  this 
question,  which  would  seem  to  be  fairly  phrased:  <fWith  reference 
to  the  addition  of  new  and  useful  facts  of  knowledge;  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  habit  of  correct  thinking;  and  to  the  broadening  of  the 
mental  and  moral  view — with  reference  to  these  three  points,  and 
wholly  apart  from  the  professional  training,  have  I  found  the  studies 
of  the  first  year  in  the  law  school  compared  with  the  studies  of 
my  fourth  year  in  college,  inferior,  or  equal,  or  superior?"  The 
answers  on  the  first  point  (with  reference  to  the  addition  of  new 
and  useful  facts  of  knowledge)  were  as  two  to  one,  that  the  first 
year  of  the  Law  school  is  superior  to  the  fourth  year  in  the  col- 
lege. On  the  second  point  the  answers  were,  as  one  to  one,  that  it  is 
equal.  In  regard  to  the  third  point  (the  general  broadening  of  the 
mental  and  moral  view)  they  were,  as  one  to  two,  that  the  first  year 
of  the  Law  school  was  inferior  to  the  fourth  year  of  the  college. 
I  would  suggest  that  every  Law  school  and  every  Medical  school 
engage  itself  in  collecting  such  statistics,  so  that  we  may  have,  a  year 
or  two  from  now,  some  data  worth  working  upon. 
PRESIDENT  DOWLINQ: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  should  like  to  inquire  whether  it  is  possible 
or  desirable  for  this  Conference  to  recommend  a  plan  allowing  a 
certain  number  of  years  for  each  of  the  different  stages  of  educa- 
tion. It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  really  the  key  to  the  situation.  I 
will  illustrate  what  I  mean.  Suppose  that  we  were  to  say  that  the" 
primary  grade  should  be  seven  years,  the  high  school  four  years,  and 
the  college  course  three  years.  Then  we  would  have  something  defi- 
nite, because  it  is  quite  probable  that  in  the  same  amount  of  time 
the  same  amount  of  work  would  be  done  in  different  institutions,  and 
there  would  be  some  kind  of  grade  for  primary  schools,  high  schools 
and  colleges.  Supposing  that  a  boy  enters  the  primary  school  at 
the  age  of  seven;  he  takes  seven  years  for  the  primary  work  and  is 
fourteen  when  he  enters  high  school;  he  finishes  high  school  at  eigh- 
teen, and,  after  spending  his  three  years  in  college,  graduates  at 
twenty-one.  He  can  then  prepare  for  technical  work.  The  reason 
I  suggest  this  is  that  I  would  like  to  get  some  practical  results. 

122 


I  have  been  present  at  not  a  few  of  these  educational  meetings,  and 
I  have  learned  how  long  a  time  it  takes  to  do  nothing  and  how 
many  years  it  takes  to  do  very  little.  We  get  together  and  we  dis- 
cuss the  questions  but  do  not  get  the  results.  I  know  a  great  many 
will  say  that  we  should  not  approve  anything  without  investigating 
it,  but  on  the  other  hand  there  is  not  one  here  who  has  not  for 
years  been  thinking  of  the  matter,  and  very  few  who  have  not  defi- 
nite ideas.  The  majority  are  of  one  mind.  Would  it  not  be  pos- 
sible for  us  to  reach  some  conclusion,  and  announce  to  the  public, 
"Here  is  what  we  think"?  It  seems  to  me  that  there  ought  to  be 
some  stage  in  the  game  when  we  should  abandon  experiment.  For 
many  years  past  we  have  been  experimenting,  going  from  one  thing 
to  another.  We  might  by  this  time  come  to  some  conclusion.  Sup- 
pose I  represent  an  institution  that  is  prepared  to  adapt  itself  to 
whatever  is  wise.  You  say  that  the  college  course  should  be  four 
years  in  length.  All  right;  I  go  back  and  we  adopt  a  four  years' 
course.  We  hardly  have  it  put  in  force  before  you  will  say :  It  should 
be  three  years,  and  we  must  adopt  a  new  plan.  The  primary  school 
should  have  its  distinct  grade,  the  high  school  a  certain  number  of 
years,  and  the  college  should  have  a  certain  number  of  years.  We 
ought  to  be  able  to  determine  this.  Then  the  university  can  take 
the  student  and  it  will  be  able  to  accomplish  more  with  him  because 
he  is  better  developed  and  prepared  for  work  in  any  line.  I  believe 
that  the  interest  of  education  would  be  best  served  if  seven  years 
were  given  to  the  primary  grades,  four  years  to  the  high  school  and 
three  years  to  the  college  course.  I  believe  that  the  college  should 
confer  the  A.  B.  at  the  end  of  its  three  years'  course  without  ref- 
erence to  work  done  thereafter;  and  that  neither  the  college  nor  the 
professional  school  should  ask  or  grant  any  allowance  for  work  except 
under  its  immediate  control.  This  would  give  a  distinct  plan  to 
all  schools  and  would  prepare  the  student  sufficiently  to  enter  the 
university  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  I  would  advocate  giving  of 
the  degree  by  the  college  when  the  student  has  finished  his  three 
years.  Suppose  we  accept  three  years  as  a  compromise,  which  will 
make  it  unnecessary  to  compromise  next  year ;  let  the  student  be  given 
his  A.  B.  at  the  end  of  his  three  years.  It  seems  to  me  the  college 
should  give  a  degree  when  it  is  through  with  the  student,  when  he 
has  got  the  liberal  culture  that  an  educated  man  should  have ;  and  then 
hand  him  over  to  the  university  that  the  university  may  do  the  best 
it  can  for  him.  Let  us  not  have  entangling  alliances;  they  are 
a  source  of  confusion  and  dispute  and  never  make  harmony. 

123 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

We  will  now  hear  the  report  of  the  committee  appointed  yes- 
terday. Dr.  St.  John  will  read  the  report. 

DR.  ST.  JOHN: 

Mr.  Chairman:  Dr.  Goucher,  the  Chairman,  wished  me  to  pre- 
sent his  regrets  that  he  is  unable  to  be  present.  The  report  of  your 
committee  consists  of  one  resolution  and  five  recommendations,  and 
is  as  follows: 

Eesolved:  That  it  is  the  judgment  of  your  committee  that 
steps  be  taken  looking  toward  the  organization  of  a  National  College 
Association. 

As  the  time  is  too  short  for  your  committee  to  formulate  a 
comprehensive  plan,  they  would  recommend: 

First,  that  a  commission  of  fifteen  be  appointed  to  prepare  a 
plan  of  organization  including  conditions  of  membership. 

Second,  that  a  conference  similar  to  the  present  one  be  held 
during  the  month  of  May,  1904,  the  exact  time  to  be  determined  by 
the  present  conference. 

Third,  that  the  report  of  the  aforesaid  commission  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  conference  of  1904. 

Fourth,  that  said  commission  be  instructed  to  prepare  the  pro- 
gram for  that  conference  and  make  other  necessary  arrangements. 

Fifth,  that  the  selection  of  the  fifteen  persons  to  constitute  the 
aforesaid  commission  be  referred  to  a  committee  consisting  of  PRESI- 
DENT JAMES,  of  Northwestern  University;  PRESIDENT  MERRILL,  of 
Colgate  University;  and  PRESIDENT  KING,  of  Oberlin  University, 
with  power. 

(Signed)  JOHN  F.  GOUCHER,  Chairman. 

W.  B.  ROGERS, 
EDWARD  D.  EATON, 
W.  C.  ROBERTS, 
RICHARD  D.  HARLAN, 
CHARLES  E.  ST.  JOHN. 

The  acceptance  of  the  report  was  moved. 

Amendment  was  made  to  include  the  three  gentlemen  named  in 
the  fifth  clause,  Presidents  James,  Merrill  and  King,  in  the  commis- 
sion of  fifteen. 

Amendment  adopted. 
Report  adopted. 

124 


PROFESSOR  C.  H.  EIGENMANN,  OF  INDIANA  UNIVERSITY  : 

In  connection  with  the  motion  that  has  been  offered  I  should 
like  to  say  a  few  words.  We  can  hardly  draw  hard  and  fast  lines 
between  the  college  and  professional  schools  unless  we  are  in  an 
"independent"  college,  and  the  discussion  so  far  has  been  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  independent  and  smaller  colleges.  I  should  like, 
therefore,  to  give  an  outline  of  the  practices  of  one  of  the  larger 
colleges  and  its  professional  schools  so  far  as  they  have  been  estab- 
lished. In  speaking  of  them,  however,  I  should  like  to  say  that  the 
practices  in  the  universities  are  also  being  adopted  in  the  smaller 
colleges.  I  have  spoken  to  a  number  of  the  gentlemen  present  and 
find,  for  instance,  that  the  work  in  Chemistry  and  the  work  in  some 
other  departments  of  some  of  the  smaller  colleges  is  now  accepted 
by  the  various  medical  schools,  and  the  time  required  for  the  com- 
bined academic  and  medical  degrees  is  thus  reduced.  In  the  larger 
colleges  we  simply  offer  a  wider  possibility  of  election.  In  connec- 
tion with  our  Law  school  it  has  long  been  a  practice  to  permit  the 
Seniors  to  elect  certain  Law  school  subjects  toward  the  A.  B.  degree, 
and  the  Law  school  students  to  elect  certain  undergraduate  work. 
We  have  recently  taken  an  invoice  of  stock  and  we  have  found  that 
we  offer  as  electives  all  the  courses  that  are  offered  during  the  first 
two  years  in  the  medical  colleges,  with  the  exception  of  Human 
Anatomy  and  Pathology,  and  when  we  found  that  was  the  case  we 
proposed  to  add  them  as  culture  courses.  Now,  it  is  to  be  admitted 
that  if  the  smaller  colleges  want  to  keep  pace  with  the  larger  ones, 
the  number  of  their  men  and  their  equipment  must  be  increased, 
and  of  course  that  is  a  matter  that  the  smaller  colleges  will  have 
to  look  to.  We  propose  to  offer,  and  have  been  offering  for  a  large 
number  of  years,  as  cultural  courses  toward  the  A.  B.  degree,  many 
courses  that  lead  directly  to  the  M.  D.  degree.  To  these  courses 
we  shall  add  Human  Anatomy  and  Pathology.  Any  student,  whether 
he  intends  to  take  up  Medicine  or  not,  may  elect  any  or  all  of 
these  courses  in  the  medical  college.  He  will  in  such  a  case  get  his 
A.  B.  degree  in  these  courses  just  as  he  will  if  he  is  taking  Latin 
and  Greek  or  anything  else. 

We  have  had  in  operation  for  several  years  a  scheme  of  shorten- 
ing the  college  course  to  three  years.  It  has  not  been  by  leaving 
off  the  Senior  year  or  by  taking  down  the  chimney.  It  has  been 
done  in  this  way:  any  student  who  enters  the  university  may  re- 
quest of  a  committee  that  exists  for  that  purpose  the  privilege  of 
carrying  extra  work:  On  his  first  request  he  is  given  the  benefit  of 

125 


the  doubt  and  permitted  to  carry  some  extra  work.  Ordinarily  each 
student  carries  fifteen  hours.  No  student  is  enrolled  in  classes  for 
more  than  fifteen  hours  unless  he  brings  the  permit  of  the  committee 
to  carry  extra  work.  Not  more  than  five  extra  hours  are  permitted. 
At  the  end  of  the  term  the  total  record  of  the  student  who  has  carried 
extra  work  comes  before  the  committee.  If  his  work  has  been  above 
a  certain  grade  all  of  the  work  he  has  carried  may  count  toward  the 
total  required  for  graduation ;  if  it  falls  below,  if  he  has  done  inferior 
work,  not  more  than  fifteen  hours  is  permitted  to  count,  and  a  second 
request  to  carry  extra  work  will  be  refused.  An  exceptional  student 
may  thus  materially  shorten  his  course. 
PROFESSOR  CHARLES  E.  ST.  JOHN,  OF  OBERLIN  COLLEGE  : 

I  want  to  say  just  a  word  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  independ- 
ent college.  We  believe  at  our  institution  that  four  years  in  college  is 
too  long  a  requirement  in  preparation  for  the  four  years'  professional 
courses;  and  the  only  question  is,  where  shall  time  be  taken  out?  I 
believe  with  the  distinguished  president  of  Columbia,  who,  in  outlining 
his  proposition  at  the  Cleveland  meeting,  made  a  very  clear  case,  that 
the  two  years'  loss  of  time  occurs  before  the  high  school. 

I  think  that  every  college  man  here  feels  that  at  least  a  year  is  lost 
in  the  elementary  grades.  But  the  proposition  made  by  him  was  that, 
although  the  loss  occurred  before  entering  college,  the  place  to  recover 
was  in  the  college.  This  seems  at  first  a  little  illogical,  but  it  is  not 
so  illogical  as  it  might  be.  It  is  much  easier  to  manage  four  hundred 
colleges  than  it  is  to  force  an  unorganized  body  of  schools  to  change 
their  courses.  It  is  a  question  of  administration.  It  will  be  very  diffi- 
cult to  save  the  time  before  college,  but  the  time  must  be  saved.  At 
our  institution,  about  one-fourth  of  the  men  enter  upon  professional 
work  after  graduation.  And,  as  we  are  a  co-educational  institution, 
that  means  about  one-eighth  of  our  graduates.  Are  we  to  shorten  the 
college  course  for  the  benefit  of  the  one-eighth  ?  What  about  the  seven- 
eighths  who  want  preparation  for  non-professional  work  and  value  the 
traditional  college  course  for  the  liberal  training  it  furnishes?  The 
point  is,  we  want  to  keep  the  four  years'  course  for  general  education 
and  at  the  same  time  meet  the  other  situation.  And  to  do  this  we 
must  enter  into  some  arrangement  with  the  professional  schools.  W^ 
are  not  afraid  of  "entangling  alliances."  We  are  in  these  alliances 
now.  We  have  taught  from  a  medical  point  of  view  histology,  an- 
atomy, and  physiology.  The  only  thing  that  now  stands  in  the  way 
of  this  pre-medical  preparation  in  the  college  is  the  statutes  in  sev- 
eral states  requiring  four  years  registration  in  a  recognized  medical 

126 


school.  And  we  are  discussing  the  question  of  adding  to  our  Faculty  a 
professor  of  law.  It  is  quite  a  question  whether  that  kind  of  man  can 
now  be  found.  Such  college  positions  may  be  open  to  men  within  the 
next  few  years,  and  the  demand  may  be  relied  on  to  create  the  supply. 
It  is  not  exactly  a  practicing  lawyer  we  want,  but  a  man  trained  in 
the  law  school  and  willing  to  take  a  professorship  in  the  College. 

We  are  not  afraid  of  this  co-operation  in  educational  lines.  But 
a  very  difficult  question  is,  who  shall  give  the  degree?  And  this  is 
where  many  of  us  will  feel  the  pressure  of  the  situation.  This  must, 
however,  be  true ;  that  if  the  work  is  done  in  the  college,  it  must  be  of 
as  high  grade  and  the  same  character  as  that  done  in  a  professional 
school.  We  think  the  solution  is  in  this  combined  course.  We  are 
an  independent  college  with  no  university  aspirations,  and  do  not  want 
a  law  school,  but  we  wish  to  keep  our  men.  We  want  some  practicable 
scheme  and  think  it  can  be  found  in  this  co-operation  of  the  independ- 
ent college  with  the  university  and  independent  professional  school. 
PRESIDENT  CHARLES  A.  BLANCHARD,  OF  WHEATON  COLLEGE  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  would  like  to  ask  whether  the  suggestion 
made  by  President  Dowling  was  intended  to  be  a  motion  making 
declaration  as  to  the  ideal  course  of  study  and  number  of  years  in  the 
school  ? 

PRESIDENT  DOWLING  :  I  did  not  make  it  as  a  motion  because  I 
did  not  know  the  sense  of  the  meeting. 

PRESIDENT  BLANCHARD  :  I  would  like  to  ask  whether  it  would  be 
proper  for  us  to  consider  a  motion. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :    It  is  in  order. 

PRESIDENT  BLANCHARD  :  I  wish  to  move,  That  in  the  judgment 
of  this  body  the  ideal  course  of  study  for  our  American  people  at  the 
present  time  is  six  years  in  primary  grades,  four  years  in  the  high 
school,  four  years  in  college,  and  four  years  in  the  professional  school. 

I  make  this  motion  cutting  down  the  proposition  of  seven  years 
to  six  years  in  the  primary  grades  for  reasons  that  I  will  state  if  the 
motion  is  seconded. 

Motion  seconded. 

PRESIDENT  BLANCHARD:  The  remark  made  by  the  gentleman 
who  has  just  left  the  floor  seems  to  me  decisive.  Dr.  Butler  said  that 
there  were  two  years  thrown  away  in  the  primary  grades  and  that  the 
way  to  remedy  the  matter  was  to  take  two  years  out  of  college.  It 
seems  to  me  we  ought  to  remedy  the  difficulty  where  it  exists.  It  is 
true,  as  the  gentleman  says,  that  it  is  a  very  difficult  thing  to  secure  the 

127 


public  attention  of  the  country  in  order  to  cut  down  all  the  primary 
grades  from  eight  to  six  years.  I  do  not  understand  that  we  here  are 
responsible  for  anything  except  for  the  expression  of  our  judgment. 
If  we  think  the  grades  should  be  cut  down  we  ought  to  say  so.  If  we 
think  they  are  all  right  we  ought  to  say  so.  If  we  think  seven  years 
better  we  ought  to  say  that. 

As  to  my  own  judgment,  I  am  satisfied  that  it  would  be  a  great 
benefit  to  the  educational  system  of  our  country,  in  this  time  of  chaos, 
for  a  body  like  this  to  take  definite  action.  I  want  to  say  one  word, 
Mr.  Chairman,  and  that  is  this.  The  gentleman  who  has  just  left  the 
floor  says,  "We  wish  to  save  our  men,  and  therefore  we  would  like  to 
find  how  we  may  do  so."  I  think  what  we  want  is  to  save  our  country, 
to  save  able-bodied,  well  educated,  well  trained  men  for  public  life. 
It  is  a  certain  fact  that  the  college  training  of  the  last  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  has  had  a  marvelous  share  in  the  development  of  this 
country.  A  minister  of  George  III.  reporting  to  the  Ministry  on  his 
return  to  England  said,  that  unless  Harvard  College  was  suppressed 
England  would  lose  the  American  Colonies.  He  said,  "Every  man  that 
goes  out  from  that  college  is  a  preacher  of  sedition."  I  suppose,  Mr. 
Chairman,  that  was  substantially  true.  Every  man  was  a  preacher  of 
the  doctrine  of  liberty.  The  colleges  have  been  a  source  of  that  kind 
of  sedition. 

We  want  the  college  training  continued  so  that  every  man  may 
have  his  look  at  the  fields  beyond.  We  want  that  liberal  culture  which 
all  leaders  require  and  I  think  we  ought  to  say  so.  I  am  clear  that  we 
should  pass  this  motion,  if  it  be  our  judgment.  I  think  we  ought  to 
publicly  express  our  own  opinions  and  trust  to  the  public  to  produce 
the  impression  which  we  desire  on  the  minds  of  legislators  and  those 
who  have  the  care  of  primary  education  in  the  United  States. 

Therefore,  I  move  that  the  judgment  of  this  body  of  teachers  is 
that  the  primary  course  should  be  six  years  in  length,  the  high  school 
course  four  years,  the  college  course  four  years,  and  the  professional 
course  four  years. 

DIRECTOR  CARMAN,  OF  LEWIS  INSTITUTE:  I  should  amend  as 
proposed  by  President  Bowling,  having  seven  years  instead  of  six. 
President  Butler  was  quoted.  I  wish  to  quote  him  at  Minneapolis. 
The  statement  was  there  made  that  two  years  were  lost  in  the  primary 
grades  and  two  years  in  college,  a  possible  loss  of  four  years.  There 
is  no  denying  that  a  seven  years'  elementary  course  is  receiving 
a  good  deal  of  consideration.  It  seems  more  reasonable  than  a  longer 
course  for  students  who  are  to  continue  in  the  high  school. 

128 


PRESIDENT  JAMES.  H.  BAKER,  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  COLORADO  : 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  believe  in  action  if  there  has  been  sufficient 
deliberation,  but  I  hardly  agree  with  the  gentleman  who  made  this  mo- 
tion. I  do  not  think  that  we  have  had  enough  deliberation.  So  far 
as  I  know  this  is  the  first  large  formal  meeting  in  which  the  problem 
of  university  organization  in  this  country  has  been  taken  up  in  this 
manner.  Of  course  all  of  these  problems  have  been  discussed,  but  I 
mean  such  a  meeting  for  such  a  purpose.  Ideas  regarding  university 
organization  in  America  are  unsettled.  Few  know  where  they  stand. 
I  think  this  meeting  is  very  significant  as  being  one  of  the  first  meet- 
ings to  seriously  take  up  these  problems,  and  I  believe  great  good  will 
grow  out  of  it. 

I  have  reached  two  conclusions:  First,  that  from  the  primary 
grades  to  the  Ph.  D.  degree,  the  period  of  general  education  is  too 
long.  Second,  that  the  American  youth  will  not  take  four  years  in 
the  high  school,  four  years  in  college,  and  four  years  in  the  professional 
school.  They  ought  not  to.  Where  the  shortening  process  should  be 
applied  I  am  not  sure.  I  do  think  there  should  be  a  most  thorough 
investigation,  national  in  character,  bringing  in  the  colleges,  including 
the  great  universities,  bringing  in  some  of  the  leading  high  schools, 
and  some  broad-minded  business  men  who  have  had  the  benefit  of 
college  education,  so  that  we  may  have  a  redefinition  of  what  culture 
means.  We  should  have  an  examination  all  along  the  line,  to  learn 
what  readjustments  should  be  made.  We  are  trying  to  pile  the  Ger- 
man university  on  top  of  the  English  university  and  hence  arises  all 
the  trouble.  There  must  be  reorganization  and  readjustment  from  the 
top  to  the  bottom.  Such  a  problem  needs  the  most  careful  and 
thoughtful  consideration  so  that  the  investigation  may  be  justly  called 
national  in  character — some  such  investigation  as  was  made  by  the 
"Committee  of  Ten"  a  dozen  years  ago  in  regard  to  secondary  educa- 
tion. I  wish  not  to  be  misunderstood.  Culture  must  be  retained  and 
will  be  retained  in  America  in  some  fashion  and  to  some  extent;  but 
this  does  not  take  away  from  the  fact  that  we  must  have  a  readjust- 
ment based  upon  careful  investigation.  Culture  will  have  to  be  re- 
defined. Culture  merely  for  culture's  sake  is  of  the  past.  Culture  in 
these  days  must  include  the  will,  the  desire  and  the  motive,  to  be  use- 
ful to  humanity.  Whether  a  man  write  a  better  poem  or  dig  a  ditch 
better,  in  some  way  he  must  make  his  culture  useful. 
PRESIDENT  W.  C.  ROBERTS,  OF  CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY,  KENTUCKY: 

Mr.  Chairman :  I  move  that  this  matter  be  referred  to  the  com- 
mittee of  fifteen  which  has  been  appointed  to  consider  all  these  ques- 

129 


tions,  and  that  that  committee  be  instructed  to  gather  statistics  which 
may  throw  light  on  a  great  many  closely  related  subjects  we  have  no 
light  on  now.  I  am  sure  we  shall  be  better  prepared  to  act  intelligently 
on  this  important  question  at  our  next  meeting  in  1904. 

Motion  seconded. 

Motion  referred  to  committee. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  : 

The  last  topic  for  discussion  is,  The  Eelation  of  the  Technical 
School  to  the  College.  We  shall  now  be  favored  with  a  paper  by  Dr. 
Harry  W.  Tyler,  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 

DR.  TYLER: 

Mr.  Chairman ;  Gentlemen :  There  is  an  element  in  my  paper  as 
to  which  I  wish  to  say  a  word  at  the  outset.  I  have  spoken  rather 
freely  of  the  single  institution  I  know  intimately,  deeming  that  per- 
sonal experience  would  have  more  interest  and  value  than  any  more 
abstract  presentation. 

In  view  of  the  tendency  of  the  word  college  to  lose  definite  signifi- 
cance— a  tendency  fundamental  for  the  present  conference — I  may  be 
pardoned  for  translating  my  subject,  with  some  incidental  broadening, 
The  Eelation  of  the  School  of  Technology  to  General  Education. 

All  men  need  general  education ;  many  have  the  capacity  and  the 
means  necessary  for  that  grade  of  general  education  called  collegiate. 
A  minority — probably  increasing — seek  professional  education  also. 
The  problem  of  the  college  is  to  harmonize  if  possible  the  interests  of 
those  who  seek  only  general  education  and  of  those  who  seek  both 
general  and  professional  education.  The  corresponding  problem  of 
the  professional  school  is  to  give  the  best  professional  training  to  stu- 
dents of  various  degrees  of  previous  general  education. 

What  constitutes  general  education?  How  much  of  it  is  so  im- 
portant that  the  school  of  technology  should  enforce  its  attainment? 
How  much  of  it  should  be  advised  but  not  required  ?  Where  and  how 
should  the  minimum  and  the  broader  range  be  given  ? 

As  to  the  first  two  questions  I  presuppose  that  general  education 
includes  the  sum  of  those  formative  agencies  of  which  the  main  ob- 
ject is  quantitative  and  qualitative  development  of  the  powers  and 
faculties  of  the  student,  without  necessary  reference  to  his  efficiency  in 
a  particular  occupation.  I  should  include  under  it  the  study  not  only 
of  Literature,  Philosophy,  History  and  Art,  but  also  of  Mathematics, 
Physics  and  Chemistry.  A  well-rounded  general  education  should  in- 
clude all  of  these,  and  it  should  include  also  moral,  physical  and  social 

136 


elements.  The  educated  man  should  not  only  have  acquired  a  wide 
range  of  knowledge,  he  should  have  gained  power,  self-mastery  and  the 
beginnings  of  wisdom. 

The  school  of  technology  has  the  right  and  the  duty  to  make  its 
requirements  of  general  education  such  that  the  aggregate  value  and 
efficiency  of  its  graduates  shall  be  a  maximum,  diminished  neither  on 
the  one  hand  by  too  narrow  training  of  a  great  number  of  men  nor,  on 
the  other,  by  the  undue  restriction  of  numbers  in  consequence  of  a 
standard  too  broad  or  too  high. 

Of  the  elements  of  general  education  above  mentioned  a  great 
part — the  sciences — receive  greater  emphasis  in  the  school  of  tech- 
nology than  in  the  college.  Moral,  physical  and  social  interests 
fare  less  well  in  some  respects,  better  in  others;  the  issue  comes  in 
part  on  the  student's  attitude  toward  his  work  as  a  whole,  in  part  on 
the  inclusion  or  exclusion  of  the  literary  elements  of  general  educa- 
tion. 

As  to  policy  the  following  alternatives  invite  consideration : 

First:  The  graduate  of  the  secondary  school  may  be  examined 
for  admission  to  the  college  only  in  subjects  on  which  his  professional 
course  will  depend,  and  the  professional  course  itself  may  involve  no 
recognition  of  literary  studies  as  such.  The  graduate  will  have  the 
minimum  of  general  education,  although  the  significance  of  chem- 
istry, physics,  mathematics,  etc.,  as  constituents  of  general  education 
apart  from  their  utilitarian  aspects  should  not  be  forgotten. 

Second:  The  graduate  of  the  secondary  school  may  be  examined 
more  or  less  extensively  and  thoroughly  in  literary  studies,  for  example, 
English,  history,  modern  languages,  etc.,  but  his  professional  course 
may  contain  none  of  these.  This  seems  to  be  based  on  the  assumption 
that  the  professional  graduate  needs  no  literary  education  beyond  that 
which  is  within  the  capacity  and  maturity  of  the  secondary  scholar. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  seems,  if  requirements  are  strictly  enforced,  to 
make  the  admission  of  candidates  to  professional  courses  depend  to 
a  relatively  great  extent  on  thoroughness  of  preparation  along  literary 
lines,  on  which  success  in  the  professional  work  will  have  but  slight 
dependence. 

Third:  The  professional  school  may  attach  such  value  to  general 
education  as  to  require  an  academic  degree  for  admission.  This  gives 
high  recognition  to  the  value  of  general  education,  but  seems  to  be  open 
to  serious  objections  which  will  be  considered  at  some  length  below. 

Fourth:  The  professional  school  may  accept  responsibility  for 
general  as  well  as  for  professional  education,  and,  requiring  literary 

131 


as  well  as  scientific  subjects  for  admission,  may  undertake  more  or  less 
successfully  to  combine  certain  fundamental  elements  of  general  educa- 
tion, for  example,  English,  history,  and  economics,  with  its  own  pro- 
fessional instruction.  The  main  difficulty  of  this  plan  is  that  of  lack 
of  time. 

Fifth:  The  professional  school  planning  its  courses  for  graduates 
of  secondary  schools,  may  at  the  same  time  make  provision  for  college 
graduates  to  enter  with  advanced  standing  in  such  a  manner  that  their 
total  period  of  education  shall  not  be  unduly  prolonged. 

The  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  has  based  its  policy 
on  the  fourth  and  fifth  of  these  alternatives.  From  its  standpoint  the 
entire  omission  of  the  literary  elements  of  general  education  is  inde- 
defensible,  and  is  certain  to  produce  graduates  whose  professional 
efficiency — to  say  nothing  of  their  value  as  citizens  and  as  men — is 
confined  within  a  narrow  range.  The  attempt  to  meet  the  difficulty 
by  enforcing  the  study  of  literary  subjects  in  the  preparatory  course 
alone  must  be  ineffective,  for  the  reason  that  the  secondary  scholar 
has  in  general  not  reached  the  age  or  intellectual  maturity  which  jus- 
tify a  suspension  of  literary  studies.  Such  suspension  leaves  him  with 
only  the  school  boy's  power  of  expression  and  appreciation  of  the 
matters  outside  of  his  profession.  It  is  an  easy  abdication  of  the 
professional  school's  real  responsibility  for  general  education  toward 
young  men  who  have  not  passed  the  age  to  which  general  education 
necessarily  belongs. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  requirement  of  an  academic  degree  for 
admission  to  the  technological  course  may  be  a  complete,  but  it  is  also 
an  essentially  illogical,  remedy  for  the  lack  of  general  education  on  the 
part  of  technological  graduates.  It  would  perhaps  be  more  accu- 
rate to  say  that  this  solution  is  not  so  much  illogical  as  over-logical. 
Good  results  are  claimed  for  the  application  of  this  principle  to  profes- 
sional schools  of  older  type  in  theology,  law  and  medicine.  I  have 
no  disposition  to  question  the  validity  of  these  claims.  I  venture  to 
deny  that  such  success  in  the  professions  mentioned  affords  an  ade- 
quate ground  for  putting  technological  education  on  a  similar  basis. 
If  the  lawyer  needs  a  mainly  literary  and  general  education  as  a  basis 
for  his  professional  success,  this  does  not  carry  with  it  any  such  infer- 
ence for  the  mining  engineer.  Analogies  are  dangerous,  but  over 
against  that  of  the  lawyer  or  the  doctor  may  be  put  that  of 
the  military  officer.  Would  any  one  question  his  need  of  broad,  gen- 
eral education  ?  Would  any  one  suggest  that  he  should  be  first  a  col- 
lege graduate  before  being  admitted  to  West  Point  ? 

133 


The  requirement  of  an  academic  degree  for  admission  to  the 
professional  course  seems  indeed  to  have  no  very  definite  significance 
under  present  academic  conditions.  The  A.  B.  may  mean  a  course 
primarily  classical,  but  under  the  elective  system  it  may  mean  most 
anything  else.  The  natural  effect  of  an  A.  B.  requirement  for  admis- 
sion to  all  professional  courses  would  seem  to  be  the  further  dissolu- 
tion of  any  definite  significance  as  to  content  which  the  academic 
degree  may  now  have,  the  further  tendency  to  carry  back  courses  in 
applied  science  into  the  academic  curriculum,  and  the  greater  pres- 
sure for  condensation  of  that  curriculum.  The  students  who  take  the 
college  course  for  its  own  sake,  rather  than  as  a  basis  for  professional 
studies,  would  be  more  and  more  subordinated  to  those  who  are  pre- 
paring for  professional  courses.  These  latter,  if  wisely  guided  in  the 
choice  of  electives,  might  well  secure  for  themselves  the  best  attainable 
education,  devoting  to  it  presumably  not  less  than  six  years.  I  submit, 
however,  that  the  requirement  of  an  academic  degree  for  admission 
to  a  professional  course  is  not  at  all  justified  by  a  demonstration  that 
individual  students  conforming  to  this  requirement  obtain  through  it 
the  best  education.  The  choice  of  the  best  should  be  free,  not  enforced. 
Any  requirement  involving  six  years  of  advanced  study  puts  the  pro- 
fessional course  out  of  the  reach  of  many  students  well  fitted  for  suc- 
cess in  it.  Because  professional  schools  have  at  times  made  the  easy 
error  of  requiring  almost  nothing  for  admission — and  this  is  I  believe 
not  more  true  of  the  schools  of  technology  than  of  those  of  law  and 
medicine — should  it  be  inferred  that  the  rational  alternative  is  the 
opposite  extreme  of  a  complete  academic  course  as  preparation? 

Another  most  important  consideration  is  that  of  cost.  The  sci- 
entific professions  of  the  country  are  recruited  very  largely  from  the 
families  of  poor  men,  and  this  tendency  toward  convection  between 
social  classes  is  of  very  great  value.  The  cost  of  a  technological  educa- 
tion is  necessarily  heavy.  If  an  academic  course  were  a  prerequisite, 
many  of  the  poor  students  would  be  entirely  unable  to  take  it.  Many 
others  would  go  beyond  due  limits  of  self-sacrifice  and  hardship,  and 
would  be  permanently  impaired  in  physical  and  mental  efficiency  and 
vitality.  It  is  not  impossible  that  in  the  diversified  field  of  American 
education  it  may  be  desirable  that  there  should  be  one  or  more  scientific 
schools  requiring  college  graduation  for  admission,  but  the  practical 
application  of  the  principle  would  be  gravely  hampered  by  dissimi- 
larity in  the  attainments  and  scholastic  quality  of  the  students. 

Under  present  economic  and  social  conditions  the  American  boy 
who  desires  to  become  an  engineer,  a  chemist,  or  an  architect,  wishes 


138 


with  right  to  enter  the  lower  ranks  of  his  profession  as  soon  as  may 
be  after  attaining  his  legal  majority.  He  will  have  much  to  learn 
in  these  lower  ranks  from  associates  of  more  or  less  training  than  him- 
self, much  to  learn  by  toilsome  contact  with  products  of  his  own  indus- 
try and  that  of  others,  in  the  mine,  the  mill  and  the  field.  He  must 
learn  by  experience  how  to  manage  many  forms  of  labor  and  service. 
Much  of  this  apprenticeship  differs  radically  from  anything  normal 
to  the  experience  of  the  young  graduate  in  law  or  medicine.  The 
young  lawyer  or  doctor  prepares  for  a  career  of  independent  activity 
and  responsibility;  the  young  engineer  is  likely  to  become  a  member 
of  a  great  industrial  organism. 

The  development  of  pure  and  applied  science,  the  increasing  com- 
plexity of  applications  of  the  physical  sciences  in  engineering  and 
industry  render  it  wholly  out  of  the  question  to  give  the  essential 
training  in  a  thorough  manner  in  less  than  four  years,  assuming  that 
the  candidate  has  at  the  outset  the  best  preparation  which  a  boy  of  sev- 
enteen can  expect  to  have  obtained.  Nor  is  this  limit  mainly  depend- 
ent on  the  relative  efficiency  of  secondary  education  or  the  relative 
scholastic  industry  of  boys.  The  work  of  the  scientific  school  differs 
not  merely  in  degree,  but  in  kind  from  that  of  the  boys'  school,  and  if 
a  particular  boy  under  exceptional  conditions  is  able  to  carry  his 
preparation  beyond  the  usual  point,  it  still  remains  needful,  if  not 
imperative,  for  him  to  spend  four  years  in  the  professional  course.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  average  boy  will  very  often  find  it  important,  if 
not  essential,  to  give  five  years  to  that  course. 

The  attitude  which  the  scientific  school  can  take  toward  literary 
education  is  thus  limited  by  the  following  considerations: 

The  boy  can  be  presented  by  the  secondary  school  adequately  pre- 
pared for  a  professional  course  at  about  eighteen  years  of  age ;  a  profes- 
sional course  of  normal  scope  can  be  given  him  during  four  years  of 
earnest  work ;  it  is  desirable  that  he  should  be  ready  to  enter  his  profes- 
sional at  twenty-two,  or,  with  some  margin  for  advanced  study  or 
interruptions,  at  twenty-three.  Shall  the  pressure  of  professional 
studies  be  allowed  to  prevent  the  reservation  of  a  substantial  portion 
of  the  four  years  for  general,  and  in  particular  for  literary  studies? 
The  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  has  stood  consistently  for 
the  negative  answer  to  this  important  question.  Its  technical  courses 
have  been  based  on  thorough  and  careful  treatment  of  the  fundamental 
sciences — chemistry,  physics,  and  mathematics,  presented  not  merely 
with  reference  to  their  applications,  but  with  due  regard  for  their 
intrinsic  significance  as  essential  elements  of  a  broad  general  education. 

184 


To  these  have  been  added  thorough  courses  in  modern  languages, 
regarded  both  as  a  means  to  acquaintance  with  the  scientific  work  of 
other  countries  and  as  linguistic  training. 

Besides  all  this,  every  course  has  included  a  definite  allotment  of 
instruction  in  general  studies  of  a  literary  character,  in  particular, 
English  composition,  and  literature,  American  and  European  history, 
and  economics.  It  is  not  claimed  that  these  courses  under  the  pressure 
of  competition  with  professional  subjects,  receive  all  the  time  and 
attention  of  students  which  might  well  be  desired.  It  is  held  that  the 
Institute  by  the  maintenance  of  these  courses  recognizes,  and,  so 
far  as  practicable,  fulfills  its  obligations  toward  the  literary  education 
of  the  great  majority  of  its  graduates.  For  many  of  them  the  rela- 
tively brief  instruction  in  literature  and  history  has  proved  a  per- 
manent nucleus  for  subsequent  studies  of  later  life.  The  significance 
of  economics  for  any  man  who  is  to  deal  with  industrial  problems  and 
processes  on  a  large  scale,  with  necessary  reference  to  cost  of  produc- 
tion, needs  no  argument.  It  need  hardly  be  added  that  literary  sub- 
jects are  required  for  admission,  and  it  is  significant  that  a  recent 
considerable  increase  in  the  entrance  requirements  in  French  and 
German  has  been  accompanied  by  provision  that  nearly  half  of  the 
time  set  free  in  the  curriculum  by  this  advance  should  be  reserved 
for  studies  of  a  general  character. 

The  young  man  whose  tastes  and  circumstances  warrant  a  broader 
general  education  has,  so  far  as  the  Institute  is  concerned,  the  choice 
of  two  plans,  one  of  which  is  very  commonly  pursued.  He  may,  first, 
extend  his  Institute  course  over  five  years,  instead  of  four,  being  classed 
nevertheless  as  a  regular  student,  and  thus  find  it  possible  to  include 
a  considerably  greater  range  of  literary  study  for  which  opportunity 
is  offered  in  connection  with  the  course  in  general  studies.  This  plan 
has  not  yet  been  often  followed.  In  the  second  place,  the  student  may 
take  an  academic  course  at  college  in  whole  or  in  part,  and  then  enter 
the  Institute  with  advanced  standing.  Such  a  combined  course  may 
under  favorable  conditions  be  completed  in  six  years,  or  even  in  five 
years,  if  only  the  degree  of  the  Institute,  and  not  that  of  the  academic 
course,  is  sought.  The  Faculty  esteems  highly  the  value  of  this  plan, 
and  offers  very  considerable  latitude  in  its  requirements  as  to  sequence 
of  studies  to  a  college  graduate  endeavoring  to  make  such  a  combina- 
tion. 

The  present  year  eighty-eight  graduates  of  forty-eight  colleges 
and  universities  have  entered  the  Institute  in  this  manner.  The 
advantages  of  the  plan  vary  with  the  student,  but  may  on  the  whole 


185 


be  summed  up  more  or  less  accurately  as  follows :  the  student  passing 
at  once  from  the  secondary  school  to  the  scientific  school  is  apt  to 
have  already  a  tendency  toward  specialization  in  some  technical  line, 
which  will  often  have  detracted  from  his  interest  in  general  education. 
The  direct  transition  to  the  professional  school  gives  full  effect  to  this 
tendency;  the  professional  point  of  view  is  over-emphasized;  other 
lines  of  interest  are  neglected;  and  intellectual  narrowness  results. 
I  do  not  at  all  admit  that  this  is  the  general  attitude  of  students  com- 
ing to  the  scientific  school  without  a  college  course,  but  I  do  not,  on  the 
other  hand,  deny  that  it  applies  to  too  large  a  minority. 

As  to  the  college  course  as  a  remedy,  the  argument  seems  to  me 
two-sided.  On  the  one  hand  the  boy  of  general  intellectual  interest 
and  ability,  systematically  trained,  may  spend  three  or  four  years  in  an 
academic  course  with  continually  broadening  mental  horizon,  with 
stimulating  and  inspiring  relations  with  teachers  and  fellow-students, 
and  with  no  lack  of  earnestness  and  effort.  It  need  scarcely  be  said 
that  this  ideal  is  not  the  average.  The  boy  graduating  from  the 
secondary  school  may  have  so  strong  a  bent  toward  professional  studies 
that  an  interpolated  general  course  would  be  uninteresting — not  to 
say  distasteful — particularly  if  not  alleviated  by  freedom  of  election,1 
while  the  principle  of  free  election  would  logically  have  led  to  his  fol- 
lowing his  own  preference  directly  into  the  professional  course.  This 
difficulty  would,  I  am  confident,  apply  to  a  relatively  large  proportion 
of  students  who  now  take  technological  courses,  students  not,  to  be 
sure,  of  the  highest  type,  but  often  of  marked  capacity  and  professional 
promise.  In  the  next  place,  the  average  boy  of  fair  ability  and 
industry  without  a  decided  bent  in  any  particular  direction,  if  he  takes 
the  college  course  as  a  preliminary  to  one  in  applied  science,  incurs 
certain  more  or  less  grave  risks.  If  his  course  is  mainly  of  a  classical 
character,  he  may  sacrifice  time  which  he  needs  for  the  beginnings 
of  scientific  work.  It  is  a  serious  misfortune  for  any  student  not  to 
have  had  some  laboratory  work  in  the  secondary  school.  Whether  he 
has  had  it  there  or  not,  he  ought  on  no  account  to  postpone  begin- 
ning it  until  he  is  past  twenty-one.  If  he  does  this,  he  will  then  re- 
quire more  than  normal  time,  he  will  undergo  the  serious  embarrass- 
ment of  entire  dislocation  between  the  grade  of  work  which  he  can  do 
with  his  brain  and  that  which  he  must  do  with  his  eyes  and  hands.  It 
is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  he  will  fail,  for  success  in  the  scientific 
laboratory  is  not  possible  to  all,  and  fitness  for  it  should  be  tested  early 
rather  than  late. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  the  college  course  has  been  conducted 

136 


under  favorable  conditions,  but  in  a  purely  academic  direction.  It 
is  not  an  open  question,  however,  that  for  the  average  college  boy,  who 
is  for  the  moment  under  consideration,  conditions  are  rarely  ideal. 
The  whole  atmosphere  of  the  college  or  university  is  a  complex  mix- 
ture, not  merely,  or  perhaps  mainly,  of  studious  effort,  but  of  athletics, 
fraternities,  and  miscellaneous  pastimes.  The  college  student  may 
have  learned  to  do  nothing  thoroughly  well,  and  if  he  enter  the  scien- 
tific school  after  graduation,  may  be  less  fit  to  do  its  work  than  he  was 
four  years  earlier.  He  may  have  learned  to  depend  upon  textbooks 
rather  than  observation,  on  authority  rather  than  on  evidence,  on  the 
examination  cram  rather  than  on  continuous  application.  He  may 
have  been  esteemed  most  by  his  fellow-students  for  his  physical  prowess 
and  his  social  good-fellowship.  His  perspective  of  the  world  around 
him  may  be  essentially  distorted.  He  may  overcome  even  this  handi- 
cap in  the  professional  school,  but  the  effort  is  painful  and  the  risk 
of  discouraging  failure  not  small.  On  the  whole,  out  of  ten  students 
who  graduate  in  the  scientific  school,  perhaps  four  would  have  been 
greatly  benefited  by  an  antecedent  academic  course,  three  more  would 
have  derived  some  benefit,  but  hardly  enough  to  offset  the  expenditure 
of  time,  the  remaining  three  would  have  suffered  harm  from  the  de- 
moralizing possibilities  of  the  college,  or  would  have  failed  on  account 
of  natural  unfitness  for  its  work.  The  admixture  of  college  graduates 
with  undergraduates  of  the  Institute  has,  in  spite  of  occasional  disad- 
vantages, had  on  the  whole  salutary  results.  The  undergraduates, 
outnumbering  the  others  by  far,  have  in  general  appreciated  the 
superior  maturity  and  mental  breadth  of  the  better  men  among  the 
graduates.  The  graduates,  on  the  other  hand,  have  gained  much  from 
the  spirit  of  earnest  application  surrounding  them.  It  is  certainly 
unpleasant  for  the  college  graduate  to  have  to  take  first  year  chemistry 
or  drawing  with  freshmen,  but  this  is  rarely  necessary  if  the  college 
course  has  been  well  planned,  and  if  he  enters  the  third  year  of  an 
engineering  course,  the  men  of  his  class  are  not  markedly  inferior  in 
maturity. 

Statistics  have  been  prepared  showing  the  attendance  of  college 
graduates  at  the  Institute,  including  all  who  have  entered  from  1890 
to  1899  inclusive.  Their  records  have  been  tabulated,  and  expressions 
of  opinion  have  been  sought  from  heads  of  professional  departments  as 
to  the  quality  of  these  men  as  students  and  their  subsequent  profes- 
sional efficiency.  The  total  number  of  graduates  for  the  years  in  ques- 
tion is  two  hundred  and  eighty-nine;  the  degrees  held  by  them  are  as 
follows:  A.  B.  (or  B.  A.)  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight;  S.  B.  (or 

137 


B.  S.),  sixty-eight;  other  degrees  fifty-nine;  the  number  of  colleges 
represented,  one  hundred  and  twenty-three.  The  number  who  have 
received  the  degree  of  the  Institute  is  one  hundred  and  fifteen. 

The  records  of  the  Institute  and  the  expressions  of  opinion  on  the 
part  of  the  heads  of  professional  departments  seem  to  warrant  on  the 
whole  the  following  conclusions :  a  considerable  number  of  graduate 
students  have  come  to  the  Institute,  often  as  teachers  for  special  pur- 
poses, with  no  expectation  of  completing  any  of  its  courses.  These 
students  have  usually  had  professional  experience  of  some  sort,  are 
past  the  usual  age,  and  are  of  decided  ability  and  earnestness.  Their 
attendance  has  been  of  high  value  to  the  school,  but  affords  no  basis 
for  argument  along  general  lines. 

Leaving  these  students  out  of  account,  leaving  also  out  of  account 
those  who  have  come  to  the  Institute  as  graduates  of  other  scientific 
schools,  it  appears  that  the  average  quality  of  work  has  not  differed 
widely  from  the  average  of  the  Institute's  own  students  above  the  first 
year.  A  certain  proportion  of  incompetents  are  naturally  weeded 
out  in  the  first  year,  and  may  be  presumed  to  have  been  weeded  out 
also  by  college  graduation.  The  best  of  the  college  graduates  have 
done  work  entirely  comparable  with  the  best  work  of  other  students, 
but  by  no  means  superior  to  it.  On  the  other  hand  the  college  gradu- 
ates have  shown  all  degrees  of  incapacity. 

As  to  subsequent  professional  success,  data  seems  to  be  inadequate 
for  any  general  conclusion.  Prior  to  1890  the  number  of  such  gradu- 
ates was  comparatively  small.  Those  who  have  come  since  that  date 
have  not  yet  reached  the  age  when  superiority  of  fundamental  equip- 
ment should  have  produced  decided  results.  Immediate  professional 
success  is  not  more  open  to  the  college  graduates  than  to  the  others. 
The  real  question  as  to  their  efficiency  belongs  to  the  period  twenty- 
five  years  or  more  after  graduation.  The  somewhat  exceptional  man 
who  has  laid  a  broad  foundation  of  general  education,  and  who  has 
made  the  best  use  of  the  social  opportunities  of  college  life  may  cer- 
tainly be  expected  on  the  one  hand  to  lead  a  larger  and  more  useful 
intellectual  life  as  a  citizen  and  a  man,  on  the  other  hand  to  have 
marked  superiority  in  all  those  wider  professional  fields  in  which  suc- 
cess depends  greatly  on  knowledge  of  men  and  skill  in  dealing  with 
them.  Actual  evidence  in  this  direction  is  as  yet,  however,  neces- 
sarily limited. 

The  relation  between  the  independent  scientific  school  and  the 
professional  university  department  may  be  considered  briefly.  In  the 
United  States,  independent  schools  of  technology  and  the  university 

138 


departments  have  been  developed  more  or  less  equally  with  a  wide 
variety  of  intermediate  types.  In  the  east  where  conservatism  of  col- 
leges and  universities  has  been  relatively  more  potent,  the  importance 
of  independent  scientific  schools  has  been  greatest,  and  their  success 
most  notable.  From  the  present  standpoint  the  technological  de- 
partment of  a  great  university  may  offer  to  the  academic  graduate 
better  articulation  of  his  general  with  his  professional  studies.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  independent  scientific  school  can  deal  at  least 
as  justly  with  the  graduate  of  the  college  which  has  no  professional 
departments,  and  it  is  certainly  open  to  question  whether  it  is  not 
wiser  for  a  young  man  to  divide  a  six  year  term  of  higher  studies 
between  two  different  institutions  than  to  pass  from  an  academic 
department  to  a  professional  department  of  the  same  university. 
The  decision  of  this  question  may  naturally  turn  on  a  variety  of 
special  considerations,  but  not  infrequently  it  may  be  highly  advan- 
tageous for  the  student  at  the  threshold  of  his  professional  studies 
to  make  an  entire  change  of  environment  as  the  German  corps  stu- 
dent does  whenever  his  serious  work  begins. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  relations  between  the  colleges 
as  such  and  the  professional  schools  of  technology  are  becoming  closer 
with  the  increasing  tendency  of  the  college  graduates  to  seek  the 
scientific  schools.  Both  the  colleges  and  the  scientific  schools  have 
much  to  gain  from  this  tendency,  and  both  may  well  make  what- 
ever adjustments,  and  even  minor  sacrifices,  may  be  needful.  I 
have  been  specially  interested  the  present  year  in  correspondence 
with  the  president  of  a  college,  in  connection  with  the  publication 
by  him  of  a  circular  on  pretechnical  studies  for  scientific  students, 
outlining  a  course  in  college  on  the  basis  of  which  graduates  may 
enter  the  third  year  of  an  engineering  course. 

Finally,  to  vary  the  point  of  view,  if  consulted  as  to  the  best 
course  for  a  boy  completing  his  high  school  and  desiring  a  techno- 
logical training,  I  should  be  inclined  to  advise  somewhat  as  follows: 
Send  the  boy  to  college 

(1)  if  time  permit; 

(2)  if  he  has  the  capacity  for  breadth  of  interest  necessary 
to  derive   advantage   from   a  wide  range  of   opportunity,   and   the 
steadiness  of  character  to  insure  a  due  proportion  of  work  to  play; 

(3)  if  a  college  is  open  to  him  which  shall  not  require  Greek 
for  or  after  admission,  but  shall  offer  him  on  the  one  hand  mod- 
erate freedom  of  election,  on  the  other  hand  good  instruction  in 

139 


drawing,  mathematics,  physics  and  chemistry,  with  laboratory  work, 
as  well  as  in  the  usual  collegiate  lines. 

Under  these  conditions  an  admirable  education  for  professional 
life  may  be  completed  at  twenty-three  or  twenty-four,  without  trun- 
cation or  distortion  of  either  the  college  or  the  technological  course. 
The  more  complete  the  last  condition  is  fulfilled  by  the  colleges, 
the  more  the  existing  articulation  between  the  college  and  the  school 
of  technology  is  improved,  the  more  will  the  former  attract  of  an 
excellent  class  of  students,  the  more  will  the  latter  gain  of  broadly 
trained  men,  the  higher  will  become  the  standard  of  the  engineering 
professions. 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  discussion  will  be  opened  by  Director  George  N".  Carman, 
of  Lewis  Institute. 

DIRECTOR  CARMAN: 

I  have  been  glad  to  give  a  part  of  the  ten  minutes  allotted  to 
me  to  the  reader  of  the  paper,  for  I  am  in  hearty  accord  with  the 
sentiments  expressed  by  Professor  Tyler.  As  I  have  no  intention  of 
encroaching  on  the  time  of  my  friend,  Dr.  Gunsaulus,  I  shall  say 
very  briefly  what  I  have  to  say.  I  did  think  before  coming  here 
this  morning  that  I  should  want  not  only  ten  minutes,  but  that  I 
should  find  it  very  difficult  to  compress  my  remarks  within  that 
time.  It  seemed  yesterday  as  if  the  four  years'  college  course,  with 
all  its  delightful  leisure,  was  the  only  thing  to  be  defended.  Having 
had  the  opportunity  to  offer  the  amendment  that  we  have  agreed  to, 
I  feel  it  is  unnecessary  at  present,  and  out  of  order,  to  discuss  the 
question  further.  I  have  thought,  however,  if  I  had  the  time  and 
the  ability  I  should  like  to  discuss  a  phase  of  the  question  before 
the  Conference  suggested  by  what  we  heard  this  morning  from  Pro- 
fessor Smith.  The  presentation  of  this  question  of  the  college  as 
it  is  related  to  the  professional  school  certainly  was  so  complete 
that  it  suggested  to  my  mind  the  advantage  that  would  be  derived 
from  a  similar  presentation  of  the  relation  of  the  college  to  the 
work  which  precedes  it. 

Many  of  us  know  that  a  certain  amount  of  college  work  is 
often  done  in  the  high  school  and  that  there  is  a  tendency  to  in- 
crease the  high  school  course  to  five  or  six  years.  Some  years 
ago — I  think  it  was  ten  or  twelve — Professor  Ladd,  of  Yale,  wrote 
an  article  for  one  of  the  magazines  in  which  he  said,  "The  high 
school  is  between  the  upper  and  nether  millstones  of  the  college  and 

140 


the  elementary  schools."  But  today,  especially  in  the  West,  it  may 
with  some  truth  be  said  that  the  college  is  between  the  upper  and 
nether  millstones  of  the  university  and  the  high  school,  or  to  use  Dr. 
Butler's  figure — there  is  danger  of  a  short  circuit  in  the  educational 
field  that  will  cut  the  college  out  altogether.  President  Butler, 
however,  emphasized  the  great  loss  this  country  would  suffer  if  the 
small  college  and  what  it  has  stood  for  should  cease  to  be. 

I  was  expected,  I  understand,  in  this  discussion  to  say  some- 
thing of  technical  work  in  the  secondary  school,  and  with  that  in 
mind  I  have  distributed  a  diagram  which  I  prepared  for  use  on  an- 
other occasion.  I  leave  this  diagram  as  my  contribution  on  this 
particular  topic  without  further  comment,  and  pass  for  a  moment 
to  another  consideration.  I  believe  that  too  much  emphasis  was 
put  yesterday  on  the  college  as  a  place  where  nothing  useful  is  taught, 
the  thought  being  that  as  instruction  becomes  useful  it  loses  its  cul- 
tural value.  I  for  one  am  not  afraid  of  the  bread-and-butter  idea 
of  an  education.  I  do  not  think  it  can  be  ruled  out  of  court. 

In  closing  I  want  to  read  two  or  three  sentences  from  this 
week's  Outlook:  "The  end  of  education  is  life;  the  object  of  life 
is  service;  and  that  is  the  best  education  which  fits  the  pupil  for 
the  best  service  that  he  can  render.  The  first  service  that  he  can 
render  to  society  is  to  support  himself  and  so  not  become  a  burden 
on  the  charity  of  others."  You  recall  that  Ruskin  said  that  "the 
best  thing  any  man  can  do  is  to  earn  an  honest  living."  "That  all 
industry  is  honorable  and  all  idleness  is  a  disgrace,  is  the  first  postu- 
late of  the  new  educational  movement;  that  no  industry  is  drudgery 
if  it  is  intelligently  performed,  and  no  industry  is  ennobling  if  it  is 
performed  unintelligently,  is  its  second  postulate.  It  is  a  far  higher 
and  better  thing  to  make  a  table  intelligently  than  to  preach  a  ser- 
mon, write  an  editorial,  or  teach  a  school  mechanically." 

THE  CHAIRMAN: 

The  discussion  will  be  continued  by  President  Frank  W.  Grun- 
saulus,  of  Armour  Institute. 

PRESIDENT  GUNSAULUS: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Fellow  Workers:  If  I  could  make  as  good 
a  speech  as  this  and  distribute  it  I  would  be  as  generous  as  Professoi 
Carman.  I  am  sure  I  am  very  grateful  for  his  kind  reference. 
All  I  wish  to  say  will  be  in  direct  and  close  harmony  with  what  he 
has  done  and  what  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology — so 
ably  represented  here  today — has  done  so  illustriously  before  the  world. 

141 


Now,  it  strikes  me,  my  friends,  that  if  you  want  to  find  how 
vast,  how  powerful  is  the  wave  of  commercialism  which  is  rolling 
over  us  and  dashing  mercilessly  against  us,  you  must  stand  in  an 
institute  of  technology,  in  a  school  where  you  are  preparing  men  to 
do  what  is  often  called  the  successful  thing  in  human  life.  And  if 
you  stand  there  long  enough  you  will  behold  the  angry  surf  of 
this  selfish  movement  seething  in  such  a  manner  as  will  make  you 
come  to  a  meeting  like  this  and  say,  when  you  see  the  ideal  of 
education  embodied  in  the  four  years'  course  assaulted :  "By  all 
the  powers  that  have  entered  into  American  education  and  into 
American  citizenship,  these  waves  can  go  'thus  far  and  no 
farther/ ''  There  is  no  kind  of  school,  I  suppose,  amongst  all 
the  kinds  of  schools  with  which  we  have  to  do,  so  certain  to  detect 
how  insidious,  how  pervasive,  how  plausible,  how  sincere  in  its  own 
fanaticism  is  the  fallacy  lurking  in  the  statement  that  education 
must  be  put  into  harmony  with  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth 
and  the  earlier  part  of  the  twentieth  century,  as  they  have  grown 
successful  chiefly  along  commercial  lines.  There  is  no  objection 
whatever  to  the  success  of  the  commercial  spirit  in  so  far  as  it  is 
in  harmony  with  successful  manhood.  Our  age  does  not  lack  in 
serious,  honest  criticism  in  the  presence  of  the  vast  achievements  of 
what  we  call  modern  civilization;  but  the  question  of  questions  for 
the  educator  to  ask  today  is  not,  at  what  age  men  should  go  into 
life,  not  how  much  of  youth  we  can  spare  to  this  monster,  not  at 
what  periods  this  or  that  can  be  done;  but  the  question  for  us  to 
ask  is,  after  this  new  program  is  adopted,  what  kind  of  men  are 
we  going  to  have  left  upon  our  hands?  What  sort  of  heart- 
tissue?  What  kind  of  soul-fiber?  What  quality  of  hand  and 
head  has  this  man  out  of  which  we  are  to  make  a  noble  specimen 
of  our  race?  It  is  very  certain  that  the  technical  schools  of  this 
country  are  confronted,  as  perhaps  no  other  schools  are,  by  the  argu- 
ment which  is  coming  to  us — if  it  may  be  called  an  argument — as 
to  the  necessity  for  youth  in  all  the  business  enterprises  of  the 
country.  Our  friend  who  gave  us  this  luminous  and  really  great 
paper,  Professor  Tyler,  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
brought  back  to  my  mind  other  days,  and  I  want  here  publicly  to 
thank  him  personally  and  the  institution  which  he  represents  for  the 
determinative  foresight  communicated  to  the  mind  of  the  late  Philip 
D.  Armour,  the  founder  of  Armour  Institute.  It  was  under  the 
leadership  of  Peter  Cooper  that  this  great  man  of  pork  and  ham  and 
"sides"  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  kind  of  men  out  of  which 

142 


the  American  future  is  to  be  made  is  the  sort  of  man  who  will 
not  object  to  take  time  enough  to  put  his  youth  where  God  means 
youth  shall  be  of  most  service — where  it  can  be  educated,  where  it 
can  be  inspired,  where  it  can  be  trained,  in  order  that  with  sea- 
soned youth,  with  intense  youth,  with  law-abiding  youth,  he  may 
rest  his  career  upon  manhood  wherever  he  goes  in  the  world.  The 
question  of  questions  in  education,  then,  comes  to  be  just  this, 
whether  we  are  going  to  supply  these  vast  influences  and  these  im- 
perious instrumentalities  of  our  commercial  progress  with  the  youth 
out  of  which  of  course  it  may  be  able  to  make  enormous  profits, 
out  of  which  it  may  be  able  to  declare  increasing  dividends — whether 
we  are  going  to  supply  this  youth  partially  trained,  or  whether  we 
are  going  to  do  our  best  to  keep  this  youth,  to  worthily  train  it  and 
make  it  powerful  for  all  the  influences  of  civilization.  The  work 
done  by  Allan  C.  Lewis  through  our  friend,  Professor  Carman  and 
his  able  assistants,  is  a  work  of  greatest  value  for  civilization.  It  is 
a  work  of  radicalism  because  radicalism  is  thoroughness  and  rooted- 
ness.  It  takes  the  idea  that  young  men  and  young  women  are  to 
be  persuaded  heroically  and  self-sacrificingly,  and  that  their  parents 
are  to  be  urged  that,  if  they  are  to  get  degrees  they  must  remain 
long  enough  at  least  to  acquire  methods  of  culture,  and  then  truly 
we  may  give  to  human  society  an  honestly  and  thoroughly  equipped 
man  or  woman.  Today,  and  too  often,  we  hear  the  voice  of  the 
father  saying,  "Here  is  my  boy;  graduate  him  quick."  The  young 
man,  callow,  soft,  vealy,  with  absolutely  no  self-control,  says,  "Gradu- 
ate me  quick;  let  me  get  out  into  life.  This  is  a  strenuous  time." 
— God  save  us  from  strenuosity  in  education.  Hustling  has  got  to 
be  a  virulent  disease.  Twenty-five  years  hence  when  we  get  our 
poise  we  are  going  to  ask  some  awful  questions  with  regard  to  the 
ferocity  with  which  we  are  seeking  for  students  in  many  of  our 
schools  and  the  criminal  facility  with  which  we  are  pushing  them 
out  into  life.  The  fact  presents  itself  that  this  nation  needs  poise. 
We  need  calmness.  We  need  self-control.  We  need  obedience  to 
the  laws  of  the  mind,  the  laws  of  growth,  the  laws  of  character.  No 
school  is  a  fit  school  for  any  boy  in  technology  that  does  not  give 
to  that  boy  so  much  culture  of  soul,  so  much  training  of  brain  as 
will  balance  the  insistent  materialism  into  which  he  gets  by  an  over- 
training of  the  hand  without  the  head  and  the  heart.  The  whole 
man  is  our  man.  We  simply  can  not  afford  to  cut  off  the  top;  lef 
us  broaden  the  bottom.  Give  us  any  means  by  which  we  shall  reach 
the  people  who  can  not  reach  us,  but  let  us  above  all  things  have  all 

143 


of  our  institutional  instrumentalities  of  education  tending  toward 
true  manhood,  realizing  that  mental  method  is  better  than  informa- 
tion, that  a  trained  brain  is  a  matter  of  character,  and  that  the 
best  thing  that  we  can  give  to  our  country  is  a  broad-minded,  self- 
controlled,  great-hearted,  strong,  earnest-purposed  man. 

PRESIDENT  JAMES: 

(President  James  extended  an  invitation  to  all  delegates  to 
visit  the  Clinic  at  Wesley  Hospital  in  the  afternoon;  and  also  in- 
vited the  delegates  to  visit  the  University  at  Evanston.) 

On  behalf  of  the  University  I  want  to  thank  you  very  much 
indeed  for  your  attendance  here  and  for  the  many  helpful  sugges- 
tions which  you  have  brought  to  us. 

DR.  FRANCES  DICKINSON,  OF  HARVEY  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  : 

Mr.  Chairman :  I  wish  to  move  that  we  recommend  to  the  Com- 
mittee of  Fifteen  the  distribution  of  its  report  in  printed  form; 
that  the  report  be  sent  to  each  institution  invited  at  least  one  month 
before  the  next  meeting ;  that  each  member  present  at  this  first  meet- 
ing be  assessed  twenty-five  dollars  with  which  to  gather  material  for 
this  report. 

I  think  the  report  would  take  all  that,  or  any  other  sum  that 
you  may  see  fit  to  name.  We  should  have  a  very  wide  report  of 
the  entire  educational  system  of  the  country. 

A  DELEGATE  :     Mr.  Chairman :     I  suggest  five  dollars 
Motion  not  seconded. 
DR.  FRANCES  DICKINSON: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  move  that  we  extend  to  President  James  and 
his  associates  our  hearty  thanks  for  the  invitation  extended  to  us 
and  for  starting  this  great  movement. 

Motion  seconded. 

Motion  carried. 

ADJOURNED. 


144 


INDEX. 


American  Academy  of  Medicine   17,  22,    28 

Amherst   College    60 

Baker,   President  James   H 129 

Baltimore  University  Medical  School 16 

Bashford,   President  J.  W 66,  76,  77,  80,    82 

Bates,   Hon.   Arthur   L 51 

Blanchard,   President   Charles  A 81,  102,  127 

Bowdoin  College   60 

Briggs,   Dean    43 

Butler,    President    17,  20,  26,  27,  97,  128 

Carman,  Director  George  N 78,  128,  140 

Cassilly,  Vice- President  Francis 77,    89 

Chase,  President  George  C 33 

Clark  University 60 

Coe,    Professor    86 

Colgate  University    63 

College  and  professional  school  compared 58 

College  and  secondary  school  compared 37,  72,    79 

College  awakens  the  sense  of  social  responsibility 25,    58 

College  comes  close  to  the  people 39 

College  course  now  substantially  a  combined  course 108 

College,  function  of,  not  sharply  definable 18,    34 

College  life  a  fellowship  of  the  ages 23,    53 

College  organically  connected  with  our  national  welfare 23,    33 

College  tends  to  postpone  the   choice  of  a  life  vocation 35,  39,    46 

College,  the   ideal    29,37,    47 

College  the  ideal  democracy , 23,    39 

College  the  best  agency  for  development  of  character 24,    45 

Columbia  Law  School  16,  17,    19 

Columbian  University  60,    61 

Combined  collegiate  and  professional  course  of  eight  years  undesirable. ..  100 

Combined  course  at  Columbia  University Ill 

Combined  courses  of  academic  and  professional  studies 18,    56 

Commercialism,   spirit   of    39,  142 

Committee  on  organization  of  a  national  college  association 124 

Competition  for  students 91 

Compression  of  time 60,  106 

Cooperation  between  college  and  theological  school 87,  89,    93 

Cornell  University   17,  19,  21,    79 

Crane,  Mr 54 

Cultural  value  of  professional  education 73,  101 

Culture   must  be   redefined 129 

145 


Dartmouth  College   v 60 

Desirability  of  forming  permanent  college  organization 76 

Dickinson,    Dr.    Frances 54,  119,  144 

Dowling,    President    M,    P 27,  57,  58,  122,  127 

Dresslar,  Professor  Fletcher  B 55,    56 

Eaton,  President  Edward  D 22,  88,  105,  124 

Edwards,  Dr.  Arthur  R 98 

Eigenmann,  Professor  C.  H 125 

Elective    system    excessive 41,  43,  52,  114,  120 

Eliot,    President 47,    94 

Entrance  requirements  at  different  professional  schools 16 

Fisher,   President  D.  W 54 

General  education,  what  constitutes 130 

Goodknight,  Dean  J.  L 114 

Goucher,  President  John  F 76,  88,  124 

Grammar  school  course  should  be  adjusted 117,  126 

Gray,  Professor  John  H 100 

Gunsaulus,  President  Frank  W 141 

Hadley,  President   17 

Hamlin,  Professor  A.  D.   F 112 

Harlan,   President  Richard 89,  124 

Harris,   Dr 42 

Harvard   College 60,  67,  89 

Harvard  Law   School 16,  17 

Harvard  Medical  School  16 

Has  the  college  a  field  peculiar  to  itself,  not  covered  by  the  technical 
school  or  by  the  demands  of  preparation  for  the  professional 

school  ?    22-54,  105 

High  school  anchored  to  secondary  methods  and  ideals 25,  37 

Hyde,    President    64 

If  reduction  is  allowed  should  it  be  (a)  by  acceptance  of  credits  in  the 
College  of  Liberal  Arts  for  work  done  in  the  professional  school,  or 
(b)  by  acceptance  in  professional  school  for  work  done  in  the  College 

of  Liberal  Arts,  or  (c)  by  combining  these  plans? 105-129 

Importance  of  conference 13,     15 

Iowa  State  University  Medical  School 17 

Is  it  desirable  that  the  college  course  should  be  reduced  in  time  from 
four  to  three  or  even  two  years  and  correspondingly  in  amount  of 
work  ? 58-83 

James,  President  Edmund  J 13,  124,  144 

Johns  Hopkins  Medical  School 16 

Kimble,  Professor  R.  G 48 

King,  President  Henry  Churchill 124 

King,   President  William  F 13,  38,     66 

Ladd,  Professor 140 

146 


Legal  subjects  in  the  college 95,  107,  116,  125 

Leland   Stanford,   Jr.,    University  Law    School 16 

Liberal   education,  what  constitutes 65,  82,  90 

Little,  President  Charles  J 89 

"    Professor  William  A 103 

•V...v... 28 

"  -t    Thomas 40 

^ , 79 

ivx.  [  Technology 101,  131 

Medicai  97,  98,  103,  116,  120,  125,  126 

Merrifield,  Jr*.  63,  66,    68 

Merrill,   President  v.  58,  124 

Method  of  time-economy  a^                     liversity  of  North  Dakota 68 

Nebraska  University  Medical  School 16,  18 

Needham,    President    Charles    W 71,  75 

No  one  institution  competent  to  outline  policy  for  all 14 

Northwestern    University 19,  40 

No  "typical"  college  course 84 

Ohio  University  Law  School 16 

Phases  of  the  process  of  education. 49 

Primary  school  studies  not  dominated  by  requirements  of  the  high  school.  27 

Princeton    University 97 

Purpose    of    Higher    Education 22,  34 

Reaction  against  time-economy  at  Cornell  University 21 

Roberts,    President   W.    C 88,  124,  12.9 

Robertson,  Professor  A.  T 15,  92 

Rogers,  President  W.  B 89,  124 

Roosevelt,  President 42 

Rush  Medical  College 17 

St.  John,  Dr.  Charles  E 89,  124,  126 

Schauffler,  Dr.  R.  McE 96 

Schurman,  President 17 

Smith,   Professor  Munroe 80,  105 

Southworth,  President  Franklin  C 84 

Spalding,    Bishop 30 

Specialization  the  order  of  the  age 71 

Steiner,  Dr.  Louis  H , 28 

Strenuosity  in  education 143 

Theological  subjects  in  the  college 84,  91,  93,  107^116 

The   present    situation 15 

The  relation  of  the  technical  school  to  the  college 130,  140,  141 

Time  a  factor  in  liberal  education 21 

Times  call   for  cultivated  and  cultured  men 33,  35,  39,  43 

Thomas,  Rev.  J.  H 44 

147 


Th wing,  President ^ 40 

Tufts    College 60 

Tyler,  Dr.  Harry  W 130 

University  of  California  Medical  School 17,  56 

University  of  Chicago  Law  School 16,  18,  19,  21 

University  of  Colorado    18 

University  of  Illinois 19 

University  of  Michigan    Medical    School 16,  18,  19,  21 

University  of  Minnesota    Medical    School 16,  19 

University  of  Missouri  Medical  School 16,  18,  19 

University  of  Pennsylvania  Medical  School 16,  19 

University  of  Wisconsin    19 

Vaughan,  Dean 21 

Wellesley   College    62 

Western  Reserve  Medical  School 16,  21 

What  a  liberally  educated  man  should  know 30 

When  should   specilization  begin? 30,  41,  59,  62,  74,  106 

"Who's  Who  in  America" 62,  81 

Wigmore,  Dean  John  H 95,  121 

Wilczynski,  Professor  Ernest  J 118 

Williams    College    96 

Wilson,  President  Woodrow 25 

Women  in  college  46 

Yale  University    17,  19,  67,  90,  97 

Young,  Professor  A.  V.  E 15 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


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